MCOT'S TV business dealing with problems on several fronts

 Last month Nielsen Thailand increased its national television-ratings panellist pool (a group of households that record their television-viewing behaviours for study purposes) for cable and satellite television by 25 per cent, integrating the national television ratings database into its already wide-based countrywide free-to-air television (free TV) panellist pool.
Kematat Paladesh, vice president for marketing at MCOT, said that given such a move, free-TV ratings in several time slots saw a drop because some advertisers spent parts of their budgets through key satellite television channels instead.
Additionally, in the first three months, the financial performance of its TV business, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of total revenue, saw a 4-per-cent drop to Bt819 million from Bt849 million year on year. The drop was attributed to the prolonged impact of the massive floods the previous year. Additionally, this quarter, revenue is expected to be stagnant.
To tackle the series of challenges it faces, MCOT said it needed to revamp its co-produced news programmes on Modernine TV, via both new partnerships and time-sharing, for the third-quarter TV schedule to boost revenue.
However, there are many conflicts within the organisation, mainly over political influence.
For example, vice chairman Chakraphan Yomchinda abruptly resigned as acting president on Wednesday after holding the post for less than three months. The following day, the MCOT board held a special meeting and appointed Premkamon Tinnakorn Na Ayutthaya as acting president.
Chakraphan, who remains vice chairman, denied that he was under political influence. He cited health problems and the need for a rest after trying to revamp news programmes at Modernine TV in order to boost advertising income.
But a source at MCOT said Chakraphan had been under political pressure, as he did not respond quickly enough to political demands while serving as acting president. The source added that Chakraphan planned to add more TV drama programmes from outside production houses to the coming TV schedule, while the board is focused on the revamp of news programmes as its first priority.
Underlining this point, MCOT chairman Sorajak Kasensuvan said the board also questioned the reason for the TV station having such drama content.
The company has begun the president-selection process and expects to see a new leader in place by the middle of this year, the chairman added. So the acting leader, it is felt, should avoid making long-term commitments.
“Speaking on behalf of the former president [at MCOT], Chakraphan should understand that MCOT is an organisation with complicated issues,” Sorajak said.
However, Sorajak said that, overall, the board understood Chakraphan and was happy with his performance.
Importantly, before welcoming a new president in July, the state media enterprise is likely to revise and terminate some contracts for time-sharing and jointly produced programmes that generate low revenue and ratings, by end of this month.