NBTC urged to educate consumers on broad

The issue was addressed at a roundtable discussion organised to solve the problem of the non-availability of live Euro 2012 soccer matches on some cable and satellite TV networks.

Many local viewers have complained that they could not watch the live matches on free-to-air TV channels carried over cable and satellite since the tournament began early this month.

The NBTC organised the event after the Confederation of Consumer Organisations collected complaints and submitted a request last week to the NBTC to address this issue.

Somkiet Onwimon, a media academic, said the watchdog must take this opportunity to raise public awareness and understanding that the media industry is in a state of flux while waiting for the new broadcasting regulations.

Old broadcast technology is also becoming outmoded with the boom in satellite TV among households, he said.

Pravit Maleenont, senior executive vice president and executive director for the television business at BEC World, said his company has a concession from MCOT to operate ThaiTV3 for terrestrial analog broadcasting, not for satellite broadcasting.

Under this concession, the company has yet to be allowed to expand its broadcasting network or to invest in advanced technology.

"Consumers should understand our limitations," he said.

Boonyuen Siritham, chairman of the Confederation of Consumer Organisations, insisted that all households must be allowed to access all TV programmes from free-TV channels without any limitation on the platform, whether conventional antennas or satellite dishes.

"This action might be considered as an infringement of consumer rights," he said.

However, Pravit, along with representatives from the Army’s TV5 and MCOT’s Modernine TV, insisted that broadcasters must respect all copyrights, as media rights holders are concentrating more on the restrictions under the international copyright protection law.

As an official broadcaster of live matches of the Euro 2012 tournament, TV3 must observe its sub-licensing deal with GMM Grammy – which was awarded the local right to broadcast live Euro 2012 matches – to show live Euro 2012 matches over the airwaves only.

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"The copyright of any world-class sports tournament, including the Euro 2012, is for commercial purposes, not for charity," he said.

The rights winner had to be the bidder that proposed the best conditions to the rights owners. After that, the rights distributor has to seek sponsorship to offset its payment for such media rights.

Given this limitation, viewers must understand that some content are available for free but not all, he added.

Dew Waratangtagoon, managing director for platform strategy |at GMM Z, a broadcasting unit |of GMM Grammy, said the |company faced a deadline of May 1 to report to Uefa the details of the local broadcast partners and media platforms for live broadcast of Euro 2012.

The company struck sub-licensing deals for free-TV with TV3, TV5 and Modernine TV and rebroadcasting contracts for other media platforms with Cable Thai Holding, DTV Service and GMM Z.

The company had been in talks with TrueVisions on rebroadcasting such programmes but both sides failed to reach a satisfactory agreement, he added.

NBTC member Supinya Klangnarong said the NBTC would collect all comments to use in drafting regulations for the broadcasting industry, particularly regarding consumer rights protection.

In the morning, Wichien Chupthaisong, secretary-general of the King Prajadhipok Institute and a member of the consumer rights panel of the Senate committee on human rights, rights and liberties, and consumer protection, petitioned the Administrative Court for an urgent trial and a temporary injunction against blackouts of Euro 2012 broadcasts.

Wichien and fellow panel members Surapong Manadeeprom, Metha Lertpreechapakdi and Pratheep Sunthrarachun as well as TrueVisions subscribers filed the complaint against the NBTC for letting the cable TV company show a black screen during the live matches.

There were two cases for the two classes of victims – TrueVisions subscribers and the people who had to buy a satellite dish to watch the football matches. They want the court to order the NBTC to act on those involved in blocking the Euro 2012 signal.