Broadcasting committee demands more details on Loca-MVTV deal
The national broadcasting regulator has called for further details about a management arrangement by Thai TV, the operator of Loca channel, with MVTV (Thailand) and has suspended approval of a request to change Loca's name to MVTV.
Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the broadcasting committee at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said yesterday that the |regulator needed to look into details about these changes.
The committee has ordered three subcommittees involved with content regulation, competition and consumer-rights protection to convene meetings with executives from Thai TV, which operates both Loca and another digital channel under its own name.
According to a report from the |NBTC Office, Thai TV has added 11 |new shareholders, including MVTV (Thailand), to the existing four, while |its president Pantipa Sakulchai increased her shareholding from 55.7 per cent to 77.5 per cent. After this change, MVTV (Thailand), which runs local satellite TV channels, plans to lease 40 per cent of the total air time at Loca, which would be renamed MVTV channel.
Supinya said that in the past, the broadcasting committee found that MVTV (Thailand) had violated a rule against exaggerated advertising for food and drug products. For its part, Loca channel had some issues with the NBTC’s content regulations. Loca is licensed to provide children’s and family programming but still airs general content.
Under the agreement with Thai TV, MVTV, which runs the Five, Mix Major, Asian Major, Modern India and Dragon TV satellite channels, would provide dramas, movies, and Chinese cartoons for Loca channel.
Last week, Pantipa said that to manage the high operating costs for its two digital TV channels (Loca and Thai TV), her company decided to team up with MVTV (Thailand) for content development.
