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Channel 3 is revamping its prime-time morning news schedule after the departure of famous TV news host Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda early this year, which has resulted in the programme’s revenue dropping by 30 per cent so far.
Under the revamp that will begin next week, the airtime for “Rueng Lao Chao Nee” will be trimmed from three and a half hours (from 6am to 9.30am) to two hours and 20 minutes (from 6am to 8.20am). After that, the station will air the “Woman to Woman” talk show from 8.20am to 9am. Surin Krittayaphongphun, executive vice president of Bangkok Entertainment Co, the operator of Channel 3, admitted that without Sorrayuth as host, the morning news programme was weakened in terms of audience ratings and revenue.

FTA FUND ‘SUCCESSFUL’
The FTA Fund has helped farmers and industries under 49 projects during the nine years since the fund’s establishment, relieving the impacts of market liberalisation and helping improve the efficiency of the agricultural and other industries, said Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn.
She said that since 2007, the government’s FTA Fund had helped develop 27 farming projects, 15 industries, and seven projects related to service businesses.
The government would continue to allocate money from the FTA Fund to help Thai exporters compete under free-trade agreements.
For this year, the FTA Fund has been allocated Bt40 million, but next year’s allocation will be slashed to Bt20 million.

JICA LOAN FOR RED LINE
The Bang Sue-Rangsit section of the Red Line commuter-rail project will be extended a 166.68-billion-yen (Bt57.14 billion) loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), allowing construction to proceed and service likely to open in 2020.
Finance Minister Apisak Tantiworawong and Japanese Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima yesterday signed an agreement on cooperation between the two nations on the third construction contract for the Red Line project.