True Corp will start its own 24-hour news channel as part of a plan to have its own full news media and become a complete telecom and broadcast service-provider.

True Corp's president Supachai Chearavanont said the initial investment was Bt50 million, but he declined to give more details.

Another True source said the group wanted to operate its own news media and might in the future step into the free-TV industry.

The 24-hour news channel will gradually replace existing news programmes on UBC 7.

Currently UBC True produces its own news programmes for the UBC 7 channel, but the programmes are not popular. Earlier, the company hired the Nation Channel to provide 24-hour news programmes on its UBC cable channel 8.

This time the group is going full-steam-ahead into the business, according to the source.

News editor Tom Mintier of the new channel said his role was to leverage his 20 years' experience at CNN to ensure the channel's news quality and quantity. The key to success will be to provide relevant information, including special news and lifestyle news, he said.

He added that the UBC True channel would not represent any particular business interest and would stay "down the middle", reporting news on a balanced basis.

"I've a reputation, and I want to keep it," he said.

Mintier's coverage for CNN helped the network win several honours. He won two Emmy awards, one in 1989 for his coverage of China and the other for his coverage of the Centennial Park bombing during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Mintier, who was CNN's Bangkok bureau chief and a CNN national correspondent, is recruiting staff for UBC True. He said many would be graduates eager to adopt new attitudes and learn new technology.

"We're looking for both reporters and potential anchors. We are also going to add writers and editors, as well as show-producers. I hope that many of the local journalism graduates from the many higher-education institutions will decide that UBC is where they would like to start," Mintier said.

The project also fits with the group's ambition of becoming a provider of converged telecom and broadcasting services.

True's business operations include fixed-telephone and cellular service, broadband Internet, pay TV and convenience stores.

The group has around 1.2 million fixed-telephone subscribers, over five million cellular subscribers, 300,000 broadband Internet subscribers and around 500,000 pay-TV subscribers. The group was founded by Thailand's largest agricultural conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group.