Let the court decide case, says NBTC

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has insisted it did its best to support the digital TV transition and had complied with the rules and regulations.

The regulator came out to defend its role and responsibility after five digital TV channels jointly filed a lawsuit against it on Monday at the Central Administrative Court alleging it failed to facilitate the smooth digital transition.

The five digital TV channels — Thairath TV, PPTV, Bright TV, One Channel and GMM Channel — are demanding 9.55 billion baht compensation plus 7.5% interest from the NBTC for business losses.

The NBTC’s secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said the regulator took measures to push forward the digital TV transition and did everything based on rules and regulations. He said it did its best to assist the operators of the 24 digital TV channels to run their operations.

“We did our job and didn’t favour anybody. If the operators are not happy and have chosen to file a lawsuit against us, we respect their viewpoints. We will provide factual information to the court and let it decide this case,” he said.

The five digital TV channels claimed in a joint statement that the NBTC ignored or delayed its duty, which caused delays in the distribution of subsidy coupons and the expansion of the digital TV network. Moreover, its move to control the quality of set-top boxes was slow, they alleged.

Furthermore, the statement alleged that the regulator did little to build public awareness of digital TV, meaning many people were uneasy about shifting to the new format. This led to low viewership and low advertising airtime rates.

Despite the lawsuit, Mr Takorn said the NBTC would continue to move forward to expand digital TV network coverage and issue the remaining subsidy coupons.