TV station mulls legal action
Spring News Television says it is mulling legal action against MCOT Plc over a business rift after the latter announced it would stop transmissions from the middle of this month.
MCOT will terminate an agreement to provide digital television with Spring News on June 16 due to failure to settle payments over a prolonged period, according to MCOT president Kematat Paladesh.
“MCOT, as a digital terrestrial TV network provider, entered into the agreement with Spring News Television Co Ltd to provide a network service to operate the Spring News channel in 2014.
Since mid-2016, Spring News has failed to settle payment of the service fee of Bt104 million, inclusive of late payment and interest charges, claiming that it was planning to increase investment funds and requested an extension of payment deadlines.”
The National Broadcast and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) as the regulator agreed with the MCOT proposal to revoke the agreement in April to end the rift.
Spring News executive board member Wathanya Wongopasri said the station tried to negotiate with MCOT to settle the deal over a long time but failed.
The latest proposal is to pay in instalments but MCOT did not accept it, she said.
“It’s a regret to know the MCOT decision as we have shown our intention to pay the debt,” Wathanya said, “but we also asked for a fair deal.”
The MCOT service fee is not reasonable since its network is inefficient and cannot cover many areas, she said.
MCOT does not have pricing standards as many television stations were charged differently, Wathanya said.
Spring News is considering taking legal for alleged malfeasance over MCOT’s business conduct, Wathanya said in a statement.
Spring News closely coordinated with the NBTC and would find other transmission networks to continued its broadcasting, she said.