Digital TV operators welcome govt help
PM uses Article 44 to change repayments, state agencies’ return of spectra to NBTC. Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on December 20 invoked the special power under Article 44 of the Interim Charter to issue relief measures for digital-TV operators, who have faced business difficulties for problems that many say were caused by the state regulator, as well as the global economic slowdown. The moves, which include extending the deadline under which state agencies have to return their radio spectra – or bandwidth – for reallocation, were welcomed by broadcasters, who said they would help ease financial strain. The PM’s order extends the deadline for all 21 state agencies to return their spectra to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission by another five years from the original deadline of April next year. The PM’s order also allows the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund Commission to subsidise the monthly cost faced by digital-TV broadcasters for transmitting their programmes to satellite and cable platforms for three years, at a total subsidy of Bt2.5 billion.
