NBTC declines to use special fund for Olympics broadcast rights

[snoop1130]

 

In a decisive 7 to 0 vote yesterday, July 17, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) resolved not to allocate 435 million baht from its Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for Public Interest to sponsor the broadcasting rights for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

 

The proposal had suggested that the NBTC utilise the fund to secure broadcasting rights for the events, scheduled to take place in Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11, and August 28 to September 8, respectively.

 

The NBTC board cited potential legal issues under the Must Have, Must Carry rules, which require free TV broadcasts of seven major sports competitions as a primary reason for their decision.

 

The rules are intended to ensure public access to significant sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, SEA Games, Asian Games, Asian Para Games, and ASEAN Para Games.

 

 

Additionally, the NBTC highlighted a private sector initiative wherein Plan B Ltd, in collaboration with four terrestrial TV stations (T Sports 7, CH 7 HD, 9 MCOT HD, and PPTV HD 36) has secured the broadcasting rights for the upcoming Olympics and Paralympic Games. The NBTC reiterated that their decision stems from a reluctance to interfere with the market mechanism.

 

“This collaboration will provide people with more options for viewing the events. Therefore, the NBTC decided not to use its fund to sponsor the purchase of broadcasting rights, which could interfere with the market mechanism.”

 

The board also emphasised fairness, noting that it would be inequitable for other TV operators if the NBTC used its fund, which was contributed to by all TV operators, to support only four operators, reported The Nation.

 

“Moreover, the responsibility for providing free TV broadcasts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games falls under the Sports Authority of Thailand, which should use the National Sports Development Fund for this purpose.”

 

By Ryan Turner

Image courtesy of Olympics.com

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-07-18

 

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[bamnutsak]

AFAIK, AIS Play will stream some/a lot of the Olympics.

 

4,800 hours of 50 sports on three free "channels" and another thirteen "channels" exclusively for AIS customers.

 

Running AIS Play on a phone, and then casting to a TV is one solution.

 

I'm not sure if AIS is offering this to broadband/fiber customers, maybe on their Playbox? Or running the AIS Play app on a TV?

[bamnutsak]

FWIW, there is an AIS Play app in the Samsung Apps store/library.

[Expat4life66]

On 7/19/2024 at 5:33 PM, bamnutsak said:

FWIW, there is an AIS Play app in the Samsung Apps store/library.

Every Samsung TV I have bought in Thailand since 2020 has had the AIS Play app pre-loaded.  As you mention, it is also available in the Samsung App store. 

 

For the delayed 2020 Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics they had great coverage.  Summer was 12 channels and Winter was 7 or 8 channels.  They also did the Paralympics that followed each (less channels).  

[Expat4life66]

On 7/19/2024 at 4:51 PM, bamnutsak said:

AFAIK, AIS Play will stream some/a lot of the Olympics.

 

4,800 hours of 50 sports on three free "channels" and another thirteen "channels" exclusively for AIS customers.

 

Running AIS Play on a phone, and then casting to a TV is one solution.

 

I'm not sure if AIS is offering this to broadband/fiber customers, maybe on their Playbox? Or running the AIS Play app on a TV?

If you have an existing AIS account you can add AIS Play on your MyAIS app.  This is for either Internet or Mobile devices.  If you don't have either, you can create an account and sign up for AIS play.  We pay for it, however the Thai Channels work for free as will those first three Olympic channels which will be overdubbed by Thai language commentators. 

[bamnutsak]

It looks like there are twenty (20) channels on AIS Play, I'm using the mobile app, prepaid AIS SIM, and casting to my Chromecast attached to my TV.

 

It's pretty easy to use the phone as a remote, essentially. This is how I watched previous Olympics where AIS was the streaming partner here.