Digital TV coupon plan adjusted
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The broadcasting regulator is adjusting its plan for the second phase of its digital-TV coupon giveaway after realising that some of the districts set to receive the vouchers are experiencing poor signals.
“We want to make sure that people who wish to change their viewing experience from old-fashioned [analog] to the better-quality images and sound offered by digital TV [get a good] first impression,” Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said yesterday.
After the NBTC sent out 4.6 million vouchers for 21 provinces in the first phase, so far about 780,000 coupons have been redeemed, mainly for set-top boxes. The coupons are valued at Bt690 per household.
Takorn Tantasit, general secretary of the NBTC, said his team would change the distribution plan for the second phase, which begins on November 28.
Under the original plan, the commission was to distribute 4.1 million coupons in 21 new provinces covered by the digital TV network. However, Takorn admitted that his office had found that of the 296 districts in those 21 provinces, only 100 districts had good digital TV signals.
As such, the NBTC will provide the coupons in those good-reception areas first. People in the remaining districts will get their coupons via Thailand Post once digital signals are available in more than 80 per cent of their areas.
Supinya added that the NBTC would propose to the government that the digital-TV subsidy be extended to 6.9 million more households on top of the 14.1 million in its original plan. This proposal aims to ensure universal access to the new broadcasting service.
These 6.9 million households are included in the national census but lack details on the number of their members.
The NBTC is also studying the possibility of providing a subsidy to the estimated 79,000 households in the less privileged group, including low-income earners and slum dwellers, to help them access digital terrestrial television.
