Supreme Administrative Court upholds decision to free iTV from debt
The Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday upheld the lower court’s ruling that the failed TV station, iTV, did not have to pay 2.89 billion baht it owed in concession fees to the Secretariat of the PM’s Office.
iTV immediately issued a statement informing its shareholders that the ruling cleared the company of any debt or liability to the secretariat, and vice versa.
The statement said iTV would soon hold a meeting of its shareholders to consider the future direction of the firm now that it has been cleared of any liabilities.
The iTV suffered huge losses, making it unable to pay the promised concession fee to the secretariat. The secretariat cancelled the concession contract on March 7, 2007, and seized the frequency back for its own operation, later assigning the frequency to Thai PBS, which is funded by the government’s annual budget.
After the contract cancellation, the secretariat demanded that iTV pay the owed concession fees. iTV responded by filing a complaint with the arbitrary committee.
On May 9, 2007, the committee decided in favour of iTV, freeing it from having to pay the debt.
The secretariat later filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court against the decision of the committee but the court upheld the committee’s decision, pushing the secretariat to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court.
