BEC to set up subsidiary for digital TV to avoid legal conflicts
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To avoid legal conflicts under its broadcasting concession with MCOT for operation of the analog Channel 3, Bangkok Entertainment Company (BEC) plans to establish a separate company to bid for two new commercial channels at the upcoming auction for digita
“However, BEC insists that it will continue to broadcast its analog free TV until the concession contract comes to an end in March 2020,” said Surin Krittayaphongphun, executive vice president of BEC.
Surin said the contract was a build-transfer-operate (BTO) agreement, so some hardware and facilities had already been transferred to MCOT, though BEC was still using them to transmit analog signals for Channel 3.
Jessada Promjart, chief executive officer at MCOT, told The Nation that some BEC facilities were in the transfer process. Additionally, BEC pays an annual concession fee of about Bt200 million.
To avoid violating legal aspects of the contract, Surin stressed that BEC itself would not join the spectrum auction of commercial digital TV channels.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) plans to stage the country’s first auction of 24 digital terrestrial TV channels for commercial purposes by October.
Surin said his company would establish a new subsidiary to bid for two types of licences at the auction: variety channels in high and standard definition. The new company would also create new TV programmes for the two channels.
According to the NBTC, the current analog TV broadcasters – Channel 3, Channel 5, Channel 7, Modernine TV, Channel 11 and Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) – will be able to simulcast, which means that they can broadcast via analog in parallel with digital until their concessions end, either because the terms of the contracts expire or they opt to cancel them.
In the simulcast period, analog TV broadcasters will bear only the cost of converting the signal to digital.
Channel 3 was launched as a commercial television station in March 1970. It is operated by BEC, a subsidiary of BEC World Plc, which is led by the Maleenont family.
