Network provider to keep Thai TV, Loca on the air
THAI TV and Loca will keep broadcasting until their licences are officially revoked, according to a source at Thai Public Broadcasting Service, a network provider for terrestrial-based digital television.
The top executive at Thai PBS who preferred to be unnamed told The Nation that the company last week received notice from Thai TV Co that it wished to end its network-leasing contract within 15 days.
Thai TV Co, which is owned by Pantipa “Tim TV Poo” Sakulchai, is licensed to broadcast Thai TV, a digital news channel, and Loca, a digital family channel.
Thai TV Co’s request to Thai PBS coincided with its refusal to pay the second instalment of its up-front fees for its two licences, valued Bt288 million, on the due date.
It advised the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission that it intended to return the licences and give up the digital terrestrial TV business.
However, the Thai PBS source said the company would continue to broadcast the TV programmes of both Thai TV and Loca until their licences were officially revoked by the NBTC.
“Despite receiving the notice of termination of the contract, we cannot pull the programmes of Thai TV Co’s two digital channels from our network because it might affect audiences and breach broadcasting rules,” the source said.
In the meantime, Thai TV Co will still have to pay its leasing fees to Thai PBS.
The contract between Thai TV Co and Thai PBS was made on a yearly basis.
Thai TV Co is charged a monthly fee of Bt4.6 million per licence. So normally, the company must pay about Bt110 million a year.
The source said that if Thai TV refused to pay its leasing fees while it is in a dispute with the NBTC, Thai PBS would seize the bank guarantee Thai TV provided when it signed the lease contract.
