Thai TV licences returned
May 13, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Thailand’s media regulator says that seven of the nation’s DTT broadcasting licences will be returned.
Bright TV (Channel 20), Voice TV (Channel 21), MCOT Family (Channel 14), Spring News (Channel 19), Spring 26 or NOW 26 (Channel 26), Channel 3 Family (Channel 13) and Channel 3 SD (Channel 28) are said by the regulator to be ready to return their licenses in order to receive compensation.
The National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will then pay compensation which will amount to 55 per cent of the total payment for the licences.
The named channels are expected to shut down in 45-60 days. Once these channels close Thailand will have just 15 channels on the DTT system
More compensation will flow to the operator of the Multiplexes involved by the closure of the seven channels.
The problem, according to the NBTC, is that the past few years has seen new digital OTT broadcasters enter the market which have taken a reported 90 per cent of ad-revenues from traditional TV media.