Digital TV stations want govt relief on instalments
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FIVE DIGITAL-TV broadcasters have called on the government for relief measures to restructure the payment scheme for the remaining instalments for upfront licence fees until the analog broadcasting system is finally shut down.
“As promises of the broadcasting regulator have not been delivered yet, all digital terrestrial TV broadcasters are affected. Therefore, five TV operators – GMM25, One 31, PPTV, Thairath TV and Bright TV – decided to protest jointly against the regulator by delaying their third payment of upfront licence fees,” Kematat Paladesh, president of Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, the operator of PPTV, said recently.
However, although the five TV stations failed to meet last month’s payment deadline, GMM25, One 31 and Thairath TV paid another visit yesterday and the other two – PPTV and Bright TV – will go today to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to show their intention to pay the third instalment. The combined amount payable is Bt2.232 billion plus 7.5-per-cent interest incurred since the deadline. Kematat said that last week 15 digital-TV channels submitted a request to the government and the National Council for Peace and Order for financial assistance by revising some details in the payment scheme for the remaining licence-fee instalments.
“We want to see relief measure similar to what the government has done for the small and medium-sized enterprises by offering debt restructuring. Both SMEs and digital TV operators are victims of the sluggish economy,” he said. He suggested that if the government agreed with this idea, relevant state agencies should work together on a proper assistance package.
