SUBSIDY FOR STRUGGLING DIGITAL TV CHANNELS
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday resolved to allocate Bt616.464 million a year from the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund as a subsidy towards the cost of ten high-definition (HD) digital TV channels transmitting their programmes to satellite and cable platforms. The transmission will run for |three years, beginning the
The ten HD channels are Channel 5, NBT, TPBS, MCOT HD, ONE HD, Thairath TV, 3HD, AMARIN TV, 7HD and PPTV.
The move came after the government’s invocation of special power under Article 44 of the Interim Charter last year for relief measures to be offered to all digital-TV operators facing financial difficulties.
One measure allows the use of the same fund to subsidise the monthly cost of programme transmission by digital-TV broadcasters. However, the subsidy covers only standard definition (SD) channels.
