Regulator revokes Peace TV's licence
Play
THE broadcasting regulator has agreed by majority vote to revoke the licence of Peace TV - the politics-oriented satellite station - for breaching an agreement with the regulator and orders issued by the junta.
Colonel Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)’s broadcasting committee, said on his Twitter account yesterday that the panel decided to terminate the licence because it had not seen an improvement at Peace TV since March 30.
It was on that date that the committee suspended Peace TV’s broadcasting licence and the licence of TV24, another satellite station known previously as Asia Update, for seven days for allegedly violating a pact with the NBTC and the National Council for Peace and Order based on junta announcements No 97/2557 and No 103/2557.
Natee said that after the April 10-17 suspension, Peace TV resumed providing programmes that caused confusion, misleading people and creating conflicts in society.
Nattawut Saikua, co-leader of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship and also co-founder of Peace TV, said he would file a petition with the Administrative Court against the NBTC resolution.
“The [UDD] legal team is in the process of protecting their rights and the operations of Peace TV because it is a private company that abides by the law,” Nattawut said.
Nattawut said the resolution was an infringement on the rights and freedom of the station. He said he personally believed that the resolution came from an authority above the NBTC and it has been plotting to shut down Peace TV from the beginning.
“I don’t understand the authorities. Under the current situation, different opinions are needed to be heard to benefit the charter draft or promote reconciliation,” he said.
“But they, in contrast, shut the door to listening to contrasting ideas. How can the country moves towards democracy?”
Peace TV, formerly known as the Democracy News Network, was among 12 politics-oriented satellite TV channels. These include the yellow-shirt ASTV, the Democrat Party-backed Blue Sky and red-shirts’ Asia Update – that agreed with the terms and conditions laid down by junta.
They agreed to change their names and de-politicise their content in order to be allowed back on the air three months after the coup last May.
Pol Colonel Thaweesak Ngamsanga, a member of the broadcasting committee, said the committee voted four to one to order the NBTC Office to inform Peace TV about the decision.
Thaweesak said the office would send a notice to Thaicom, another satellite TV network, telling it to comply with the NBTC order.
Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the broadcasting committee, voted for Peace TV to keep its licence. She gave the rationale behind her decision via her Twitter account, saying she disagreed with majority voters because they considered this case mainly based NCPO announcements, not broadcasting rules.
She said the decision to revoke the licence seemed to be a double standard in law reinforcement because several politics-oriented satellite-TV stations kept criticising the junta-led government and were still licensed.
