Thai TV, NBTC given chance to settle argument
The Central Administrative Court gave cash-strapped Thai TV Co and the national broadcasting regulator the chance to settle their case by themselves yesterday after the digital TV operator failed to pay its second instalment of auction fees.
Thai TV Co had sought a court injunction to prevent the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) from claiming 288 million baht from its bank guarantee by July 22.
“The move is good to help prevent damages for both sides. Thai TV still has two options to address the problem by itself,” said Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the NBTC’s broadcasting committee.
First, the company, which holds two digital TV licences, can find content partners to rent a maximum of 40% of total air time, or nine hours a day.
The other option is to increase its registered capital so its major shareholder Pantipa Sakulchai, a media veteran who also owns TV Pool Magazine, will bring in new shareholders and dilute her shares. After the shareholder move, the company can keep its name.
Thai TV Co is allowed to change a 10% stake in its shareholder structure per capital increase, Ms Supinya said.
The NBTC legal team said it would look at the regulation on mergers and acquisitions in broadcasting to find a way Thai TV Co can change its shareholder structure again. However, Thai TV still has to pay the remaining auction fees worth 1.6 billion baht to the NBTC, said the regulator.
The company is the only operator among 24 digital TV channels that failed to pay the second instalment.
Thai TV has until July 22 to reconsider its decision to stop digital TV operations. The company can also appeal the case to the NBTC to extend the deadline to jointly solve this dispute.
The NBTC warned Thai TV’s executives they would be banned from running other broadcasters for three years if they don’t pay the fees.
“We did not know we still had a chance to avoid damages,” said Suchart Chomsakul, a lawyer for Thai TV Co.
Ms Pantipa previously sought new partners to help shore up Thai TV, but the negative headlines made investors jittery. She also took a firm stance that she did not want to continue her two digital TV channels.
Thai TV operates Loca children’s channel and Thai TV news, securing the licences for a combined 2 billion baht. The company faces over 300 million baht in losses from just one year of operations.
Mr Suchart said Bangkok Bank, the guarantor for Thai TV Co, sent it a letter saying it would pay the fee to the NBTC only if it received consent from the company. Thai TV has insisted it will not pay the fee because the regulator failed to facilitate a smooth digital TV transition.
In related news, the NBTC held a forum yesterday discussing network expansion. Three providers reported their network installations met NBTC’s requirements.