Proposals directed at NBTC board
Two members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission broadcasting panel will submit their draft regulations governing the "beauty contest" for allocating digital licences for 12 public TV channels directly to the NBTC board on May
The decision comes after the broadcasting panel failed to respond to the proposals by NBTC commissioners Supinya Klangnarong and Thawatchai Jittrapanun early this month.
Under a beauty contest, applicants set out their cases for being awarded licences on the basis of criteria set out in the invitation to bid. It is an alternative to auctioning licences through rounds of competitive bidding.
Supinya and Thawatchai wanted to draft the conditions, terms of reference, criteria and method for the beauty contest as specific rules subject to public hearings. Specific rules were drafted for the auction of 2.1-gigahertz licences for third-generation mobile services last October, and for the auction to allocate spectrum bandwidth for 24 commercial digital TV licences.
The NBTC’s broadcasting panel, however, has already opted to put the beauty contest regulations into an information memorandum (IM).
Supinya, who is also chairwoman of the commission’s subcommittee on consumer protection, stressed that because the licensing process involves the public interest, its regulations should be subject to public hearings, not simply included in an IM.
"We believe that [submitting the draft to the board] is our last chance to fight to protect the public’s interest. However, we will accept the NBTC board’s decision on this matter," she said.
The draft regulations include five preliminary criteria. The first concerns organisational structure. Each applicant for the beauty contest must be a public organisation, state agency or consortium representing relevant parties. This is designed to guarantee the independence of public TV channels.
The second criterion is that content and programming genuinely reflect public needs and interests.
The third stipulates business plans and sources of funds sufficient to maintain a public TV operator’s independence and self-sufficiency.
The fourth key criterion mentions good governance and transparency of public TV licensees.
The fifth concerns technical support and new technology to ensure universal access to digital TV content whenever needed, such as by providing archives.
