8 public digital TV licences to be granted for new players: Thai broadcasting regulator
Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the NBTC's broadcasting committee, said yesterday that the beauty contest for the eight public digital TV channels, scheduled to begin in June, would be earmarked for new players.
"The broadcasting panel is working on the required specifications of potential bidders, conditions and essential details for this unique kind of bid," Natee said.
He added that after those details were complete, the NBTC would announce public participation before the beauty contest begins. The validity term for the eight new licences for public TV channels is four years.
He explained that another four spectrum slots would be reserved for the Royal Thai Army's TV5, the Public Relations Department's Channel 11 and the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) with the remaining two channels.
Natee stressed that during the simulcast period, the broadcasting regulator must allow existing TV broadcasters to air their analog programmes through digital signals.
Under the International Telecom-munication Union (ITU), a common method for international broadcasting and telecommunication regulators to ensure that television viewers without set-top boxes are not deprived of services is to have analog and digital broadcasting in tandem for the simulcast period.
Under such guidelines, TV5, Channel 11 and Thai PBS must pay network leasing fees to transmit their analog programmes via digital signals. The simulcast period will end when the NBTC orders those state agencies to switch their analog services off.
Additionally, according to the broadcasting master plan (2012-16), the NBTC must determine an exact time frame for the state agencies, state enterprises and other state units or persons who are currently assigned frequencies to return them for future operations, as specified in the spectrum management master plan, within two years.
Natee added that his panel expected to set the exact time frame for TV5 and Channel 11 by the end of next month, while Thai PBS had signed a memorandum of understanding to return its holding spectrum within the next three years to the NBTC for reallocation. Under this MoU, the NBTC must, in return, allocate two spectrum slots for Thai PBS's public TV channels.
However, on Sunday civil-society groups, journalist associations and academics called for the postponement of this process, particularly to allow TV5 and Channel 11 to run their analog programmes over the digital TV platform, because they believed it would breach the spirit of media reform. They also suggested that the NBTC should allow relevant parties to engage in the process before the beauty contest began.
Rewrited from The Nation newspaper
April 2, 2013
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/NBTC-reveals-plans-for-public-TV-licensing-30203180.html
