NMG petitions court for more remedies for NBTC’s lax transition to digital

The court invited NMG executives and legal representatives to hear the first testimony after the media powerhouse last month sued the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission.

Adisak Limprungpatanakij, chief executive officer of Nation Broadcasting Corporation, a member of NMG, said he had presented new evidence to the court in seeking additional remedial measures from the NBTC, on top of calling for Bt3-billion compensation for the damage caused by the commission’s slow transition of the country into the digital-TV era.

Adisak said the broadcasting committee had voted 3-2 to drop a proposal to reduce the transmission-network leasing fees for broadcasters. This reflected a lack of support from the NBTC in developing the digital-TV industry, he said.

"The network leasing fee is too high compared with the real costs. Based on the actual cost of facilities and necessary software for broadcasting standard-definition service, the monthly charge should be just Bt2.8 million a month per channel. But in fact, [my] company is now being charged Bt4.9 million monthly by its transmission-network operator."

In this low-competition market, it seems unfair to digital-TV broadcasters if the current charge is 75 per cent higher than the actual cost. He said he is appreciated if the profit they earn is subject to 10 per cent of that cost.

In addition to this, the broadcasting committee reportedly agreed to freeze the current leasing fees charged by the digital-TV transmission-network operators for the next four years. It wanted to ensure full nationwide coverage by digital terrestrial TV service.

"Therefore, the broadcasting regulator should support the industry by making the transmission-network providers offer fair prices," Adisak suggested.

MCOT, the Army and Thai Public Broadcasting Service are the national providers of digital-TV transmission services to commercial broadcasters. NMG is a client of the Army.

This suggestion is among other remedial measures sought after the NBTC allegedly failed to deliver on an array of promises.

Last month, NMG called for both financial and non-financial support for the whole industry, such as postponement of the third instalment of upfront licence fees that is scheduled for May, and financial assistance involving the cost of cable and satellite TV transmission and new TV audience ratings.

NMG, which operates two terrestrial-based digital channels, the Nation TV news station and Now 26 variety channel, appealed to the court for Bt2.96 billion in compensation, comprising Bt1.958 billion for Now 26 and Bt1.003 billion for Nation TV.

Adisak said he believed that the court understood the current situation, that all digital TV broadcasters were facing difficulties. The full support from the NBTC is needed.

Apart from Nation TV and Now 26, five other major digital TV channels – One, PPTV, Thairath TV, GMM 25, and Bright TV – previously asked for compensation of Bt21 million per day in a case against the NBTC for inattention and delayed execution of the transition from an analog to digital.

On August 24, the group filed a case against the NBTC alleging inattention to the delayed transition from analog to digital, asking for Bt9.55-billion compensation with interest of 7.5 per cent per annum.

The digital-TV group also handed in its proposed measures for setting of licence fees and contributions to |the Broadcasting and Telecom-munications Research and Development Fund for the Public Interest (BTFP), the TV rating system and others.