THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

TrueVisions seeks injunction against NBTC fine in channel-arrangement row

TrueVisions seeks injunction against NBTC fine in channel-arrangement row

TrueVisions has again sought a Central Administrative Court injunction against the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)’s order that all satellite and cable TV broadcasters reserve channel numbers 1 to 36 for digital terrestrial

Currently TrueVisions’ satellite and cable platforms are the only ones failing to comply with the order.

Last year TrueVisions filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court against the NBTC’s order and sought an injunction. The court accepted the case for consideration but declined to issue an injunction. The NBTC now has moved ahead and imposed a daily fine of Bt50,000 on TrueVisions for declining to follow its order.

As a result, TrueVisions last week again took the case to court to seek an injunction against the fine.

On Monday, the NBTC also imposed another fine on TrueVisions, as the advertising duration on some of the channels it broadcasts exceeds the legal level of six minutes per hour. Under this penalty, True has to pay a Bt1-million one-off fine and another Bt50,000 per day.

True has arranged digital TV channels 3, 7 and 9 in the 1-to-10 channel range on its satellite and cable platforms. These digital stations are allowed to advertise longer than six minutes an hour if they are in the right channels, not in 1 to 10. Being placed in the 1-to-10 range limits them to six minutes.

True Corp chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said TrueVisions was ready to follow the court’s ruling if it decides that the company has to pay the fine and obey the NBTC order on channel arrangement.

nationthailand