Court lets MCOT off the hook for Bt55m claimed by Sorrayuth's production house

The court said Rai Som did not submit a written notice to request this revenue from MCOT in 2006. However, the judges found that the company had requested a similar amount as payment from the state media enterprise in 2005. 

According to yesterday’s verdict, there was no significant impact on Rai Som’s business under MCOT’s co-production agreement when the latter gained extra revenue by cutting its discount rate, because MCOT was owner of Modernine TV. Meanwhile, MCOT had exceeded the permissible advertising airtime.

The verdict ended the last hope of the host of Channel 3’s current prime-time morning news programme to get extra revenue from MCOT. 

The ruling overturns a previous verdict by the Central Administrative Court in September 2013 that ordered MCOT to return Bt55 million in advertising fees to Rai Som. 

Last year, Sorrayuth’s production house sued MCOT for the return of the Bt55 million plus 7.5-per-cent interest for the opportunity loss from commercial contracts with the state media enterprise. Rai Som claimed that it was supposed to receive that much money from its 50:50 time-sharing agreement in 2006. 

Between 2004 and 2006, Rai Som partnered with MCOT to co-produce a news talk show named “Kui Kui Khao” aired on Modernine TV. The programme was one of the top-rated news programmes at that time.