Rights groups petition over NEWS-NMG row

The Family Media Watch Network and the Foundation for Consumers lodged the petitions.

At issue is the accumulation of Nation Multimedia Group shares by NEWS and its affiliates, which NMG alleges violates anti-hegemony rules laid down when licences for terrestrial-based digital TV channels were auctioned by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission in late 2013. On March 30 this year, the NBTC’s broadcasting committee decided not to act on NMG’s complaint.

However, the voting procedure of the five-member committee was itself controversial, as two abstentions were counted with the single vote against taking action, for a 3-2 ruling.

Unyaorn Panitpeungrat, president of the Family Media Watch Network, said counting abstentions in that way seemed illegitimate.

"In common practice, when it comes to voting, abstentions do not count in tallying the vote negatively or positively. The NBTC’s broadcasting committee must be questioned for a significant breach of a universally accepted voting process," she said.

She added that there did not appear to be anything in the NBTC’s own regulations that would allow the counting of abstentions in this manner.

Suwanna Jitprapas, adviser to the Foundation for Consumers, said: "We need help from both the NRC and the NACC to look into the details of this controversial decision that might affect the whole broadcasting industry as well as consumer rights."

She said the decision did not just affect NEWS and NMG but also had a huge impact on the public interest, because the regulator would be able to control media hegemony via mergers and acquisitions in the future. As such, this might breach the spirit of the law, particularly Section 31 (related to protecting consumers from media hegemony) and Section 32 (related to protection of individual rights of privacy and freedom to communicate) of the Broadcasting Act BE 2553 (2010).

She also disagreed with the way the broadcasting committee reached its decision. "This decision will destroy a bar that guarantees diversity in media and public interest, because the watchdog cannot control media cross-holding and hegemony."

She also expressed concern that the decision would negatively affect the spirit of media reform in regard to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting.

On March 30, the NBTC broadcasting committee considered whether NEWS’s acquisition of a 12.27-per-cent stake in NMG violated rules against cross-holding laid down ahead of the digital-TV licence auction. Only one member of the five-person panel, Peerapong Manakit, opposed applying those rules against NEWS, while Natee Sukonrat and Taweesak Ngamsanga abstained.

The remaining two members voted in favour of taking action.

Under the rules in question that governed the licence auction, a major shareholder was not allowed to hold more than 10 per cent of other companies in the same licence category. A "major shareholder" was defined not only as a person or juristic person allowed to have ownership of not more than 10 per cent of a company, but also mutual beneficiaries.