Digital operators want watchdog to switch off analog TV
To stimulate redemption of the Bt690 digital-TV vouchers, the broadcasting regulator needs to come up with a concrete plan to switch analog TV off and to intensify public relations campaigns on the advantages of digital, industry actors said yesterday.
"As we believed in terrestrial-based digital TV, we decided to enter this business through the national auction of digital TV licences.
"What we want to see now is an action plan on turning off all analog TV broadcasts, which will eventually create a level playing field in the TV broadcasting industry," Adisak Limprungpatanakij, vice president of the Club of Digital Terrestrial TV Operators, said yesterday.
Although the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has distributed 13.57 million digital-TV vouchers to eligible households since last year, only 5.22 million have been used to purchase digital receivers. This suggests that the migration from analog to digital is still slow.
The NBTC was holding a public hearing on the subsidy scheme.
Thanakorn Suksai, manager of engineering planning and information at Thai PBS, said the regulator must work closely with national digital TV networks to set guidelines and a schedule for the analog switchover, which is another key step to complete the transition to digital TV by 2020.
Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the NBTC’s broadcasting committee, said it would next week discuss the first draft of these guidelines for the analog switchover. If the committee agrees to the draft, a working panel for this process will be formed.
Boonyuen Siritham, chairman of the Confederation of Consumer Organisations, also said that with a clear action plan, people who have received a digital-TV coupon would be encouraged to use it towards purchase of a receiver and get used to digital TV programmes before the complete analog switchover.
"While working on such a process, the national public relations campaign to educate and increase awareness of people on how to access digital TV must be bold," she said.
In fact, the NBTC has set aside Bt63 million for a digital-TV promotional campaign, but the project has been delayed twice. It is about to begin this month.
Adisak, who is also chief executive officer of Nation Broadcasting Corporation – the operator of the Nation TV digital channel – suggested that besides those issues, the broadcasting committee should make it clear how much longer its "must carry" rule would be in place.
"The must-carry rule should be revoked once most households can equally reach digital TV to make sure that terrestrial networks become a national backbone in the broadcasting industry," he said.
