NBTC urged to probe Channel 3-MCOT
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The Civil Society Network for Radio and Television Observation has asked the broadcasting regulator to examine the concession that MCOT granted to Channel 3, as the operator allegedly breaches certain conditions.
Takorn Tantasit, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said yesterday that the civil society group had claimed that Bangkok Entertainment Co (BEC), which holds the concession from the state enterprise to run analog terrestrial TV Channel 3, had violated the concession.
The consumer group also claimed that BEC World, the parent company of Channel 3, was the de facto operator of Channel 3.
This seems to defy the concession and the Act on Organisation to Assign Radio Frequency and to Regulate Broadcasting and Telecommunications Services.
Under the concession, BEC must transfer all assets incurred under the concession to MCOT, but the company opted to rent space in an office building called Maleenont Towers, which is owned by the Millionaire Property Fund, to avoid the asset transfer to MCOT, the group said.
Takorn said his legal advisory team would examine the details provided by the group, then submit its findings at the NBTC’s meeting today.
The NBTC will decide whether to revise the recent order by its broadcasting committee banning Channel 3 from cable and satellite TV networks after the analog channel’s operator lodged a written petition for a revision of the order issued by the committee last week for all cable-sat TV operators to drop the channel.
Channel 3 also wants a revision of the “must-carry” rule imposed by the committee on February 3, which defines “national free TV” as only the 24 terrestrial-based digital channels, freezing out Channel 3 because its programming is in the old analog format.
