Most satellite subscribers can watch the Olympics

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission’s “must carry” rule was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday.
Natee Sukonrat, chairman of NBTC’s broadcasting committee, said yesterday that when the rule goes into effect, Thais’ basic right to watch free TV programmes via all receivers was legally protected.
The NBTC met with TV Pool of Thailand and cable and satellite TV operators to make them understand that cable and satellite TV receivers were considered normal TV antennas for viewing free-to-air content, such as international sports tournaments, movies, drama and documentaries.
The live broadcast of the Olympic Games by cable and satellite TV would not violate copyrights as long as they cannot be viewed outside the country.
To comply with copyright restrictions, satellite TV operators must encrypt free-to-air signals from terrestrial TV, he added.
Napasak Kotwiboon, managing director of PSI Holding, the country’s largest satellite-dish trader, manufacturer and distributor, said there were only 2 million satellite TV set-top boxes without CA in the country, of which 1.5 million were sold by PSI.
The company will join forces with other leading satellite-dish traders and distributors to launch campaigns to help customers with old set-top boxes buy new models with CA technology at affordable prices.
According to Nielsen Thailand, there are 21.8 million TV households, of which 49 per cent or 10.9 million households access free TV shows via antenna, 31 per cent or 6.8 million via satellite dish, 11 per cent or 2.3 million via cable and 9 per cent or 18 million from TrueVisions.