NBTC to decide tomorrow on whether to postpone digital TV licence fee payments
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THE National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will meet tomorrow to make a final decision on whether to postpone the second instalment of the licence fee for terrestrial-based digital TV channels.
“The Auditor-General’s Office and the Attorney-General’s Office have provided us their opinions,” Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, said yesterday.
The NBTC says it has been waiting for advice from those two offices and the National Anti-Corruption Commission to make sure that its ruling will be clean and transparent. The commission had given yesterday as the deadline for the three organisations’ responses.
Though most stations are calling for a delay, Bangkok Broadcasting and Television paid Bt683 million to the NBTC last week for Channel 7 HD.
An NBTC source said BEC-Multimedia, MCOT and Springnews TV had also expressed interest in paying the second instalment by the due date. Since the due date was this coming Sunday, the NBTC yesterday extended it to Monday.
The 24 digital TV stations owe Bt8.2 billion.
Takorn said the final decision would ensure that there was no impact on those companies paying up first.
“In case the NBTC says ‘yes’ to giving all digital TV operators a chance to postpone their second instalment, each channel operator must file a letter of intent along with necessary information to the broadcasting regulator for the postponement,” he said. The NBTC will review this matter on a case-by-case basis, he added.
The NBTC also approved the terms of reference for selecting a public relations agency to handle the national campaign to promote digital TV.
The invitation to bid for the contract is expected to be published next week.
