Digital TV operators in desperate need of assistance

If 2014 and 2015 saw dark clouds gathering over the digital TV industry, 2017 brought a real, gigantic storm. It will very likely continue in 2018, unless the regulator – the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission – takes concrete steps in fulfilling its mission, which is to make it tenable for truly new players to play a significant part in industries that have been dominated by the state and big corporates.
Cries for help from digital TV operators are getting louder. Gone is the optimism of less than half a decade ago when the NBTC put digital TV licences on sale in what was heralded as the beginning of the end of an elitist monopoly. Some may say the new players have largely themselves to blame, but the truth is the NBTC was very much responsible for the ultra-high bidding prices and the newcomers’ failure to see the downsides of their investment.
The bidding went the way the NBTC wanted it to, and the watchdog gloated on the success of receiving a staggering amount of money from the licence sales. The panel more or less approached telecom spectrum bids with the same attitude, giving priority to how much money could be gained from the auction of the frequencies instead of its complex yet ultimate task of ensuring the public benefit the most from the “national resources” that belong to all Thais.
The NBTC was born out of the noble thought that broadcasting and telecom frequencies were national resources, meaning their management must put consumer interests before anything else, as the broadcasting and telecom signals actually belong to the people. The panel, therefore, must judge its success or failure based on how high or low the telecom fees are, and whether the environment is right for the broadcasting landscape for Thais to truly benefit from the content.
As things have turned out, telephone and Internet fees remain high, because the big operators’ claim that investment would not have been possible otherwise are always considered unquestionable. Meanwhile, digital TV operators have been resorting to the age-old “success formula” of the elitist monopoly era, churning out singing contests and game shows because sponsors always love them.
The Association of Digital TV Operators has sent out yet another SOS, with calls revolving around paying less “rental” fees or waiving them in some cases. According to the association, most of the 24 digital TV operators have been facing crippling business difficulties, in part because of their high winning bids for licences. Other factors disrupting the business include advertisers having more options and the high costs of trying to match all the new platforms that still yield unpredictable financial returns.
When it granted 24 digital TV licences to 17 winning bidders in April 2014, the NBTC had only accomplished half its task. The “liberalisation” must also be feasible as well as sustainable, and it is the NBTC’s job to see to it that necessary measures are in place. Whether the NBTC has done enough in this aspect is highly doubtful. Fitch Ratings have forecast that only a few of the digital TV channels will be able to achieve strong content provision, good ratings, revenue and cash flow improvement in 2018.
The NBTC’s insistence that everything is not up to the panel, that a lot of agencies are involved, is not a good enough excuse. The commission is supposed to be a trailblazer for liberalisation, so the other agencies can follow its lead, which, of course, must be a noble and defensible one.