Proposed 2% NBTC licence fee too high
Television and radio broadcasters have raised concerns that they will face higher operating costs if the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission imposes a 2-per-cent licence fee.
Dialogue on this issue became heated among broadcasters and related business operators at a public hearing held by the NBTC yesterday on the draft regulations for broadcast-licence fees.
If the regulation comes into effect next month, radio and television broadcasters – including digital terrestrial, satellite and cable television operators – must pay 2 per cent of their gross revenue for the licence and another 2 per cent to the Universal Service Obligation fund. The USO fund is for research and development into broadcasting and telecommunication services, overseen by the NBTC.
Industry representatives said the proposed licence fee would add a high cost to their businesses, possibly causing some of them to fail in the near future.
Nipon Naksompop, president of the Satellite Television Association of Thailand, said the association’s members had called for a flat Bt20,000 annual fee.
However, Nipon stressed that satellite and cable TV operators should be categorised as non-frequency-use businesses, so they should not have to pay into this fund. If they are required to do so, they should pay in accordance with their audience penetration.
As collecting at least 2 per cent of a broadcaster’s income for a licence fee was written into the Broadcasting Act in 2008 and the Act on Organisation to Assign Radio Frequency and to Regulate the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Services 2010, Nipon suggested that the NBTC take this opportunity to amend some points related to this issue.
"If we consider the approximately Bt70 billion in annual advertising expenditure via TV as broadcasters’ revenue, this fee of 2 per cent of income would be equivalent to Bt1.4 billion. This could also affect the media industry," he said.
Veerawat Thepsoonthorn, TOT vice president for regulatory affairs, said the 2-per-cent rate was not reasonable. The NBTC should base the fee on a sliding scale basis, as is done with the taxation system.
Teerana Bhongmakapat, chairman of the NBTC subcommittee on the broadcasting-licence fee, said the panel would study a sliding-scale basis as another option.
Teerana added that the licence fee could be eased or waived for broadcasters that operate channels for public service and community-based purposes, but this would depend on how much they are able to commit to the public interest.
