Ch 7 seeks 'fair treatment' from broadcasting panel
Operator BBTV concerned that Channel 3 may get special treatment from NBTC
Channel 7 operator Bangkok Broadcasting and Television wants fair treatment from the national broadcasting committee in connection with the latter’s effort to pave the way for Channel 3 to simulcast analogue content on a digital TV channel.
A source at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said that last Friday a BBTV lawyer submitted a letter to the broadcasting committee asking it to ensure that any plans it devised regarding Channel 3 would not affect terrestrial digital TV operators such as BBTV.
The source said the letter also stated that if the committee amended any rules, it must ensure the changes were fair and did not favour a particular company.
It is BBTV’s first written reaction in the matter. BBTV simulcasts its Channel 7 analog programmes on its digital Channel 35.
Channel 7 has the largest audience base and is the main competitor of Channel 3, which is operated by Bangkok Entertainment Co.
The broadcasting committee has explored several options trying to convince BEC to simulcast its programmes on the digital Channel 33 of its sister company BEC-Multimedia. It is part of its attempt to quickly switch Thailand to the terrestrial digital TV era.
BEC declined to simulcast its analog content, saying it and BEC-Multimedia were different entities.
The broadcasting committee will hold another meeting today in the search for a solution to the problem.
However, an industry observer is sceptical that will happen, given that the five-member committee is reportedly divided into two factions that have different ideas on how to deal with this issue.
One plan the committee is expected to consider is a revision of the rule governing the content ratio on a digital TV channel to make it possible for BEC to simulcast programmes on Channel 33.
The committee’s digital TV content rule obliges a digital TV licence-holder to produce at least 60 per cent of the content itself and rent airtime to other parties to produce the remaining 40 per cent of content for them.
Unless this rule is amended to allow a digital TV channel to rent 100 per cent airtime to another party to produce content for it, BEC will not be able to simulcast all its programmes on Channel 33.
BEC keeps saying that it is willing to simulcast its content but the simulcast must not breach any related NBTC rules.
The broadcasting committee meeting today follows last week’s ruling by the Central Administrative Court to grant temporary relief to BEC in response to the broadcasting committee’s recent order for all cable and satellite TV networks to drop Channel 3 programmes from their networks yesterday.
The deadline has been extended to October 11, during which time the broadcasting committee and BEC will have to jointly seek ways to end the impasse.
The committee had instructed cable and satellite TV networks to drop Channel 3 programmes as the channel was not free TV based on its definition.
It obliges cable and satellite |TV networks to carry free TV |channels, which are the digital TV channels.
