Pay-TV licences likely to be granted next year

Colonel Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said he believed that the licences, which are for cable TV and satellite TV businesses, would be issued for an initial term of one year. At the end of the term, if the operators have behaved well, their licences will be extended for another three years. After the three-year term, they will be granted a 15-year licence.

Natee wants the licensing of the pay-TV industry to be restructured, with separate licences for so-called “multiplexers” and operators. 

Multiplexers do not have their own pay-TV operations, but aggregate content from various sources to supply to operators. Operators who produce their own content would have to apply for both multiplexer and operator licences. Each type would cost the holder 2 per cent of its revenue.

The operators can provide content on any digital platform, from the Internet to mobile devices, Natee said.

There are about 250 cable TV and 250 satellite TV operators in Thailand. Cable TV businesses operate under the Public Relations Department and MCOT, while satellite TV operators are still waiting for NBTC licences.

Natee said he did not think it would be difficult to regulate the broadcasting industry, given that it has business value of about Bt60 billion per year, compared with the huge telecom industry, whose value is in the hundreds of billions of baht each year.

The NBTC has finished drafting the frequency-management and broadcasting master plans, while the telecom plan is still being drafted. The board has already approved the spectrum plan and is expected to approve the broadcasting plan this week.

All three master plans are expected to take effect in the first quarter of next year.

One highlight of the spectrum-management plan is the reclaiming of the state agencies’ spectra by the NBTC for reallocation. 

Spectra granted to private concessionaires will be returned to the NBTC when they expire. The spectra, which have no concessions or rental contracts, will be returned to the NBTC within five years for radio, 10 years for TV broadcasting and 15 years for telecoms.

The NBTC will meet state agencies that hold telecom and broadcasting spectra today to discuss the requirement that they comply with the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law. Article 82 of the law requires state agencies holding radio, TV or telecom frequencies to declare to the NBTC the details of their use of the frequencies and their reasons for holding them.