NBTC board okays Bt378m compensation for return of Voice TV licence
The board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Tuesday approved payment of compensation over Bt378 million to digital TV licence holder Voice TV for returning its licence to the regulator.
The NBTC had set up a subcommitee to determine the compensation that should be paid to six digital TV licence holders returning seven licences they hold.
Voice TV channel will go off the air at midnight on August 31, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said.
On Tuesday, the subcommittee will also calculate the compensation for MCOT, which aims to return its MCOT Family Channel 14 licence. The MCOT channel will go off the air on September 15 midnight.
The subcommittee has yet to calculate the compensation for BEC World’s Channel 3 for return of its Family Channel 13 and 3SD Channel 28.
Takorn estimated that Channel 13 would get compensation of around Bt162 million and the 3SD Channel 28 of over Bt680 million.
Both will go off the air at midnight on September 30.
Related story: NMG shareholders to decide on returning Spring 26 channel licence to NBTC
Six commercial digital TV broadcasters announced on May 10 that they were returning the seven licences they had secured from the NBTC. May 10 was the deadline for any broadcaster to declare their intention to return their licences.
The six broadcasters returning their licences included Spring News Television Co Ltd’s Spring News Channel 19, and Nation Multimedia Group (NMG)’s Spring 26 Co Ltd, which will hand back its licence for Spring 26 Channel (formerly known as NOW26 channel).
The others are Bright TV, which is returning its licence for Channel 20, Voice TV for Voice TV Channel 21, MCOT for MCOT Family Channel 14, and BEC World’s Channel 3 for its Family Channel 13 and 3SD Channel 28.
The NBTC board last month approved a resolution that the regulator will pay net compensation of Bt675.764 million to Spring 26 Channel, more than Bt500 million to Spring News Channel 19, and Bt371.983 million to Bright TV. All three stations will go off the air at midnight on August 15.
