Talk on media monopolies
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THE PANEL in charge of reforming mass media and information and communications technology industry yesterday met with the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission (NBTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to seek ways to prev
Wasant Paileeklee, vice chairman of the subcommittee of the National Reform Committee, said the issues ranged from regulation and current problems to alignment with the upcoming constitution.
The meeting also raised the case of Solution Corner (1998)’s acquisition of a stake in Nation Multimedia Group.
Thawatchai Jittrapanun, an NBTC member, said the watchdog had made progress by launching measures such issuing regulations governing mergers and acquisitions, cross-holdings and broadcasting domination.
Under the rules for the auctioning of commercial digital-terrestrial TV licences in 2013, each bidder could win up to three licences, but not more than one in the same category. The NBTC’s legal advisory team recently decided that this rule would extend each licence to 15 years.
The Broadcasting Committee is expected to consider this advisory team’s decision next week.Also, a major shareholder is defined as a person or juristic person holding more than 10 per cent of a company’s shares.
Wasant cited Anake Yuyuen, the SEC’s representative at the meeting, as saying the SEC focuses on preventing listed companies from violating regulations and disclosing information unequally to investors.
Wasant’s panel will next week invite the Thailand Development and Research Institute to discuss similar issues of domination in the media.
