As revenue from its own channel declines, TV5 to focus on network
The Royal Thai Army Radio and Television Station Channel 5 (TV5) is banking on revenue from usage of its broadcasting network by digital TV operators to compensate for declining earnings from its TV business unit while it transforms into a public TV servi
Maj-General Boonyarit Wissamol, director of policy and planning at TV5, said the terrestrial-based digital broadcasting network was expected to be completely established by 2017.
The Army says it has installed digital TV transmitters at 19 sites, covering about 70 per cent of the country’s households. By the end of next year, it targets adding 20 towers to reach up to 90 per cent of households, and to reach all viewers by mid-2016 by adding gap fillers.
In addition to this, it has earmarked Bt3 billion for its two-year plan to roll out its own digital TV network.
“Once our digital TV [network] service is fully in place, we expect to receive a full stream of revenue from our clients, and this will become major source of revenue for TV5, about 50 per cent of the total,” Boonyarit said.
He suggested the National Broadcasting and Telecommunica-tions Commission (NBTC) should put more emphasis on public relations and educational campaigns about digital TV as soon as possible to help speed up the transition from analog technology. This would ensure that network providers like TV5 and broadcasters reach a wider audience.
Of the four network providers for terrestrial-based digital television, TV5 is the largest in terms of capacity and number of clients. Its rivals are MCOT, the Public Relations Department, and Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS).
TV5’s clients are Channel 7 HD, One HD, GMM Channel, Workpoint Creative TV, Nation TV, Now26, New TV, True4U, Mono29, TNN24, Amarin TV, Bright TV and PPTV HD. The Army also uses its own network to transmit its TV5 channel.
Public TV for national security
In preparation for intense competition in the broadcasting industry after the arrival of the digital terrestrial TV business, General Pakkapong Praijantr, deputy director for TV programming at TV5, said the station had prepared a four-year transition plan to become a public TV service for national-security purposes.
According to this change, TV5 must comply with the NBTC’s regulations governing 12 public TV broadcasters. In the national-security category, TV5 would be allowed to sell only eight to 10 minutes of advertising time per hour. Currently it is allowed to sell 12 minutes per hour like other commercial terrestrial TV channels.
Pakkapong said the station would also increase the proportion of news and information related to national-security issues to 70 per cent of the total from 60 per cent currently within four years.
To prepare for this change, TV5 recently opened a new tower for its offices, recreational facilities, nine studios, conference rooms and an auditorium. Its parking garage can accommodate about 600 cars.
The tower is equipped with digital broadcasting technology.
With these new facilities, TV5 will be able to expand its capability to serve in-house production, particularly live shows, and transmit them in digital format through various channels within two years.
