Channel 3 chief slams NBTC rule on analog broadcasting
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Channel 3's big boss Pravit Maleenont yesterday unleashed his fury at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission for deciding against the broadcasting of the analog channel on pay TV.
“Unlike other operators [with digital TV licences], our company has to shoulder extra operating costs of Bt500 million per year if the analog channel is simultaneously broadcast with the digital channel. How will the NBTC help us?” said Pravit, director of Bangkok Enter-tainment, the channel’s operator.
Under the “must carry” rules, pay-TV operators are allowed to carry only free digital TV channels. If an analog channel wants to be on the platform, its operator needs to get a pay-TV licence from the NBTC.
Channel 3, under its concession terms from MCOT, can show up to 12 minutes of commercials per hour, against six minutes allowed for pay TV. The analog channel can be viewed through conventional antennas, pay-TV cable networks, pay satellites and free-to-air satellites. The NBTC order covers True Visions, a cable TV operator that serves 2.4 million subscribers, who constitute a major share of viewers of the analog channel.
“It’s a ‘must not carry” rule, not a ‘must carry” rule anymore, if we are forced to move our channel from the pay-TV platform,” Pravit said with a tense voice.
The NBTC had ordered termination of the service on Sunday, but on Wednesday, granted a 100-day reprieve. That brought brief joy to Pravit, who said he was ready to fix the issue with the NBTC. Bangkok Entertainment last Friday petitioned the Administrative Court for protection from the NBTC’s decision.
The company also sent a letter to TrueVisions, telling the cable operator that it would take legal action against the NBTC. It told True Visions to continue with the broadcasting of the analog channel. It also said that if the channel was cut off, it maintains the right to sue TrueVisions.
Pravit was agitated and wondered why the NBTC wanted to block the broadcasting of analog channels, which have been around for a long time and can reach all households.
“We are born human. How you’re gonna bar us from being human?” Pravit said, comparing analog channels to humans.
Channel 3 is now carried by Charoen Cable TV, whose president, Wichit Aur-Areevorakul, said the channel is one of his favourites.
“If the NBTC says that’s illegal, we’re ready to be arrested,” Wichit said during the public hearing with the NBTC yesterday.
