NBTC gets 16 more takers for its channel auction
IN THE FIRST two days of sales of application documents for the upcoming auction of broadcaster licences for 24 commercial digital television channels, 34 have been sold, including 16 yesterday.
So far 23 companies have picked up the documents, which will be available until today.
Big names buying the packages from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission yesterday were Nation Multimedia Group, Workpoint Entertainment and MCOT.
The others included Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, which is owned by Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, one of Thailand’s richest people. He is also founder and chief executive officer at Bangkok Airways and president of Bangkok Dusit Medical Service, the operator of Bangkok Hospital Group.
Yesterday, three Nation Multimedia Group subsidiaries purchased three different documents. NBC Next Vision will bid for a news channel; Bangkok Business Broadcasting will go for a variety channel in standard definition (SD); and Nation Kids plans to operate a digital channel for children and families.
Workpoint Entertainment’s Thai Broadcasting grabbed two application documents for variety channels in standard and high definition (HD).
MCOT took documents for a children’s channel and for variety programmes in SD and HD.
Mono Technology, a publishing company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, will bid for three licences: Mono Generation will go for a news channel; Mono Broadcast aims for an SD variety channel; and Mono TV targets an HD variety channel.
Bangkok Media and Broadcast purchased two auction-application documents for variety channels in SD and HD. I-Sport Media, a joint venture between Samart Corporation and Siam Sport Syndicate, bought a bidding document for a news channel.
InTouch’s Touch TV reappeared to purchase a document for a children’s channel, on top of the one it bought on Tuesday for an SD variety channel. Meanwhile, Voice TV took two documents for news and SD variety channels, and Springnews TV will bid for a news channel.
The publishing house of the Thai-language Daily News paper assigned its newly established firm DN Broadcast to purchase documents for a news channel, while 3A Marketing will also bid for a news channel.
The publisher of TV Pool magazine assigned its subsidiary Thai TV to buy three documents, for children’s, news and SD variety channels.
Of the 34 bidding documents sold by the NBTC in the first two days to 23 companies, the variety SD category appeared to be the best-seller, followed by news, HD variety, and children and family. In the SD variety category, the 11 companies that purchased documents for seven SD variety channels were Bangkok Business Broadcasting, BBTV Satelvision, Touch TV, GMM SD Digital TV, BEC-Multimedia, Voice TV, Thai Broadcasting, Thai TV, MCOT, Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, and Mono Broadcast.
In the news category, the 10 companies that grabbed documents for the seven available news channels were NBC Next Vision, Voice TV, Post TV, BEC-Multimedia, Springnews Television, Thai TV, Mono Generation, I-Sport Media, 3A Marketing, and DN Broadcast. In the HD variety category, the seven companies that bought the documents for seven HD variety channels are Bangkok Broadcasting and Television, GMM HD Digital TV, BEC-Multimedia, Thai Broadcasting, MCOT, Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, and Mono TV.
In the children’s and family segment, six of the bidding-document buyers are Nation Kids, Thai TV, MCOT, Rose and Media Entertainment, BEC-Multimedia and Touch TV.
So far BEC-Multimedia, a sister company of Bangkok Entertainment Co, has been the biggest purchaser, going for four categories: children’s, news, and variety in both definitions.
Surin Krittayaphongphun, executive vice president of BEC, the operator of Channel 3, said there were some issues to be debated before making a final decision on which licences to bid for. The key issues include network-leasing fees, competition in each licence category, and further details on programming and scheduling governed by the NBTC.
Though BEC-Multimedia yesterday took four documents home, Surin believes that the company might secure only one or two licences as the company wants to invest more money in content, rather than pouring it into the licence auction.
