Petchyindee Gym Pulls Muay Thai Broadcasts From Free TV

Nattadej Wachirratanawong, promoter and owner of Petchyindee Gym, announced that the muay thai events Muay Man San Nueang and Petchyindee Muay Thai Premier will stop broadcasting on free television channel True4u from October 1 onwards and will air exclusively on Pryde TV. The move is due to ongoing financial losses.

Wachirratanawong explained the rationale behind the decision: "This is an important decision. Many people don't understand why we have to stop using TV. For a long time, everyone has watched for free, and it has continued this way for about 10 years, so people may be accustomed to watching through television. When asked why we must stop, the answer is simple: we are losing money. The broadcast expenses are not covered. We receive no support from the channel. Second, sponsors have virtually disappeared today. Everything has gone online. There is no longer a need for sponsors to buy advertising through television broadcasts. The television business has been a burden we've had to shoulder for years now. But when we look at the direction things are heading, if this continues, our muay thai events will only get worse, not better. This problem didn't just appear recently—it has been ongoing for about a year. So we decided together with the owner and the company that we need to be brave enough to break free from the old cycle. The question we asked ourselves was: do we need television to run muay thai? Can we survive without it? When television is actually causing us losses, we have to try a new approach."