NBTC help sought against foreign players

The newly appointed National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission was urged yesterday to protect local operators from foreign players and help them create superior content.

This plea from the industry came after Austrar International Media Group (AIMG) from Australia |said recently that it had formed a 59:41 joint venture with a Thai investor to operate a local broadcasting business, China Austrar Media Group (Thailand), or CAMG (Thailand).

AIMG's main partner, China Radio International - a state-owned media operator in China - is also focusing on expansion in Southeast Asia via this approach and using Thailand as a strategic media hub for China to export entertainment and news content as well as other kinds of media platforms to the region.

Niphon Naksompop, chairman of the Satellite Television Association (Thailand), told The Nation that broadcasting liberalisation was important to the industry, but this change must underline the protection of local businesses, as more foreign investors and content providers were likely to enter the Kingdom.

The NBTC should design its master plan to promote small and medium-sized broadcasting operators, especially satellite-and cable-television companies, so they can survive the tough competition as more players arrive from abroad, he said.

Kasem Inkaew, president of the Thai Cable Television Association, said the master plan should offer a special scheme to support local operators to improve their content and gain a competitive advantage.

Jamnan Siritan Nunbhakdi, president of the Radio-Television Broadcasting Profession Federation, said the focus had been on the quantity side of the broadcasting business for many decades. The key indicators of success were ratings and advertising spending for each TV or radio programme.

This must change, she said. A development plan to upgrade content quality was crucial, as was financial assistance to support broadcasters in preparing for regional expansion when the Asean Economic Community is implemented in 2015.

"Under this scheme, the NBTC should also provide research and development funds for the industry," Jamnan said.

Parames Rachjaibun, chairman emeritus of the Advertising Association of Thailand, said that with the advent of this telecom and broadcasting watchdog, the media platform in the country would be shifted in the coming years, especially advertising expenditures, which were expected to reach Bt110 billion this year.

The association would take a wait-and-see viewpoint to follow this movement, though this regulator was supposed to make consumer rights a first priority as well as to listen to the private sector.