Brief gains for BEC seen in court ruling on Channel 3
Play
Analysts from leading securities firms believe last week's ruling by the Central Administrative Court over the ongoing Channel 3 impasse will have a short-term positive effect on the business of Bangkok Entertainment Company (BEC).
Meanwhile, an industry insider has suggested that if BEC and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) cannot eventually reach an appropriate longer-term solution, advertising budgets prepared for Channel 3 analogue broadcasts might have to be shifted to other analogue free-TV channels and terrestrial digital-TV channels.
The Central Administrative Court on Friday granted an injunction to Channel 3 by extending to October 11 the deadline for satellite- and cable-TV networks to drop its analogue programmes.
This followed Channel 3’s petition against a recent order by the NBTC broadcasting committee for such networks to drop the channel’s analogue programmes from September 28.
An analyst at KKTrade Securities, part of the Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group, said the company forecast that last week’s ruling would be helpful for BEC in the short term.
However, BEC must work with the NBTC to find a possible way to simulcast Channel 3 analogue programmes via digital Channel 33 (for high-definition variety programmes) operated by its affiliate, BEC-Multimedia.
This programming would be also carried on cable- and satellite-TV platforms to 15 million households.
The analyst is, however, concerned that in the long run, BEC will face intense competition from new players in terrestrial-based digital-TV business, including BEC-Multimedia, which operates another two variety channels in standard-definition and a kids/family channel in SD.
BEC might, therefore, find it difficult to raise advertising rates in the near future, said the analyst.
Moreover, an insider in the advertising industry said that if the two parties could not in the final analysis find a solution and Channel 3 analogue broadcasts could be received only by conventional antenna, the channel would be unavailable for about 15 million households.
“Local advertisers and companies who want to invest their budget via Channel 3 may then wish to allocate their spending to other leading analogue free-TV channels, such as Channel 7, Modernine TV and TV5,” said the source.
