Advent of digital TV to fail without legislative support

“I’m really concerned about the radio frequency allocation for public and community-based services because under the digital economy bills, the assignment of radio frequencies appears to give first priority to government bodies,” Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), told The Nation.
Meanwhile, a member of the National Reform Council (NRC) suggested that the government’s bills appear to conflict with the draft constitution in terms of media reform.
The NBTC is expected to see its power reduced and independence eliminated after it comes under the oversight of the National Digital Economy Commission (NDEC).
Supinya said that under those circumstances, it would be difficult to create community-based TV broadcasters, which allow local people to operate their own TV stations, in the near future.
According to the radio frequency allocation master plan, in each local broadcasting site, 12 digital terrestrial TV channels are reserved for community-based service.
This will encourage local people to participate in and promote media reform and liberalisation.
More importantly, the bills will also take away the NBTC’s revenue and research and development fund for the public, disabled and disadvantaged people, benefits for the elderly and media development for public and community services.
She said this fund should be reserved for the support of the broadcasting industry, particularly for community-based broadcasting, which will be run under a limited source of income.
Besides this, within three to four years, analog terrestrial TV broadcasting will be switched off. Then the Army, MCOT and the Public Relations Department, which hold those unused frequencies, might decide to keep them rather than return them to the regulator.
This might also affect the spectrum auction for digital radio broadcasting in the near future. According to the NBTC’s current frequency allocation plan, the watchdog is planning to use the VHF (very high frequency) band for digital radio after those state-media enterprises return theirs.
Through the link to the NDEC, Supinya expressed her anxiety over the red tape at the NBTC, as it has to regulate the industry, particularly regarding frequency allocation, and frequency allocation by the selection method could lack transparency.
“We aim to keep the broadcasting and telecommunications regulator as an independent entity to ensure and guarantee people’s rights and freedom and fair competition among private operators,” said Wasan Paileeklee, a member of the NRC’s media reform committee.
In the draft constitution, the NRC wrote in Article 22 that radio frequencies for radio and television and telecommunications were national resources that must be used for the public interest.
To protect the nation’s benefits, there will be an independent entity or broadcasting and telecommunications regulator to manage and allocate those radio frequencies.
Besides national security and the public interest, the broadcasting and telecommunications regulator also has the responsibility to allocate radio frequencies for local-based services and less-privileged ones.
However, some details in the digital economy bills appear to go against the ongoing media reform overseen by the NRC, he added.