NBTC to spell out terms for state channels

The broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will today consider specifying the terms of the analog broadcasting free-to-air TV operations of four governmental broadcasting agencies, according to an NBTC source.

They are the Royal Thai Army, which operates Channel TV 5; MCOT, which operates Channel TV 9; the Public Relations Department, operating Channel TV 11; and the Thai Public Broadcasting Service.

It is expected that the analog broadcasting terms the committee will determine for them will not exceed five years. The broadcasting committee initially announced that the terms of these agencies would not exceed 10 years. They obtained the broadcasting spectra before the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law came into force, which means there is no analog broadcasting terms for them. The NBTC is obliged by the frequency allocation law to determine the period of their analog broadcasting to prepare them to transit to its licensing regime.

The source speculated that the committee would grant a five-year term to both Channel 5 and 11, but a three-year term to Thai PBS. The three channels broadcast programmes on both the analog and digital terrestrial systems – in parallel known as the simulcast broadcasting. They have broadcast digital TV programmes by using the spectrum bands allocated for the future digital public TV licence holders and will stop the simulcast broadcast once their analog broadcasting terms expire, which will be specified by the broadcasting committee today.  

ThaiPBS has signed a memorandum of understanding with the NBTC to hurry to switch from the analog system to the digital broadcasting system within three years. The NBTC will issue two High Definition (HD) public service licences to ThaiPBS with a term of 15 years.

Channel 5 and 11 are expected to apply for digital public TV licences after the expiry of their analog licence terms.

The broadcasting committee will grant the 12 digital public TV licences via the beauty contest, which will see the licences going to the ones with the most viable proposals.

MCOT president Anek Permvongseni said that the company has asked for the analog broadcasting term to be as long as until the first day the NBTC will switch off the analog broadcasting system in Thailand.

The NBTC has not yet announced the “switch-off” date. The start of the switch off depends on the ends of the concession periods of BEC World, which holds MCOT’s concession to operate Channel 3, and that of Bangkok Broadcasting and TV (BBTV), which holds Royal Thai Army’s concession to operate Channel 7. The concession of BEC World concession will end in 2020, while that of BBTV in 2022.

MCOT, BEC, and BBTV have test run the digital TV broadcasting on the spectrum bands assigned for the future community digital TV licence holders. They will stop the testing once the NBTC finishes the auction of commercial digital TV licences. 

Today the broadcasting committee will also consider awarding broadcasting network licences to Channel 5, 9, 11 and TPBS. The licence is for providing network service to future digital TV channel operators.