THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Bid for rights to Summer Olympics

Bid for rights to Summer Olympics

THE BROADCASTING regulator is seeking Bt150 million from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s research and development fund to support TV Pool’s effort to acquire the local broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympics.

Pakdee Manaves, deputy secretary-general of the NBTC, said yesterday that the commission’s broadcasting committee had agreed to submit a budget request to the board of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for the Public Interest.
 TV Pool consists of Bangkok Entertainment Company’s Channel 3, the Army’s TV5, Bangkok Broadcasting and Television’s Channel 7, MCOT’s Modernine TV and the Public Relations Department’s NBT. 
The committee claimed that the use of these funds would help all 22 commercial digital terrestrial TV stations get the chance to become an official free-to-air broadcaster of this global sports event. 
The Summer Olympic Games (Rio 2016) will run from August 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
However, Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the broadcasting committee, expressed concern over transparency in the use of the money. 
“To make sure that this financial support reflects a real need of the broadcasting industry, all commercial digital TV operators must be invited to brainstorm this issue and find a proper solution,” she said. 
In the past, the audio/visual broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games were managed by the founding members of TV Pool. 
However, after the introduction of digital terrestrial TV two years ago, some new players in the business expressed interest in joining the airing of this world-class athletics spectacle. 
This sports event was also included by the NBTC on its “must have” list for free TV service.
The competition to secure the broadcasting rights of major sport events and tournaments appears to be intense, particularly in the digital free-to-air TV business, because this kind of content can boost audience ratings. 
Yesterday, Bangkok Media and Broadcasting’s PPTV digital TV station released its sports-telecast line-up for the next three years. 
It will show live the new seasons of major soccer leagues including the English Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, Italian Series A, Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League, as well as leading soccer tournaments such as the International Champions Cup and Fifa Club World Cup. 
 
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