VCDs are big business

In The Nation recently was a business piece on the still-viable VCD market and the major player in Thailand, a firm called CVD.

This is the company that sell badly dubbed versions of Hollywood films in Thailand. There is disturbing talk in the story about selling badly-dubbed DVDs as well. I can only hope they will leave the English soundtracks intact on these products. Seeing the number of Thai DVDs on the market without English subtitles, I can't help but wonder if English soundtracks are the next thing to be left off the Thai releases of foreign films.

Industry powerhouse Sahamongkol Film plans to expand into the made-for-TV business with a new division for making VCDs, according to this story.

The move comes in response to the merger of Major Cineplex and EGV, the two biggest movie-theatre operators.

Sahamongkol boss Somsak Techaratanaprasert said the VCD subsidiary would give the company another distribution option as they come under increasing pressure from the merger.