NBTC to set the set top box discount at 690 baht

BANGKOK, 26 June 2014 (NNT) - The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has set the price of set top box discount coupon at 690 baht, a significant decrease from the earlier announced price of 1,000 baht.

Mr. Thakorn Tantasit, Secretary General of the NBTC, said that several public hearings would be held in the four different regions of the country to gauge public interests and feedbacks on the 25-billion-baht digital TV subsidy coupon program.

The public hearings will start on July 4th in Chiang Mai, July 5th in Khon Kaen, July 8th in Songkhla, and July 10th in Bangkok. All of the hearings will be attended by members of the budget-spending monitoring committee of the National Council for Peace and Order.

The hearings will allow people to discuss the price of the coupon, what benefits to be covered by the coupon and the number of households eligible to claim the coupon, which is still unsettled between 22 million and 25 million households.

Public hearings are expected to be concluded by July 15th, Mr. Thakorn said, adding that the coupons should be distributed by September this year.


-- NNT 2014-06-26

I bet after getting everyone on these new digital boxes a licence fee will follow in the not too distant future.

The cheapest box available at Big C is about 1200 Baht (exclude antenna).

Antenna is about another 300 Baht.

I got digital PSI which is useless to watch WC2014 without payment. Had to search storage room and pull out old antenna and watch it analog. Ordering Maige IPTV from China so will see how it goes. For 2,500 THB a year with all sport and HBO it's better deal than any Thai service.

I got digital PSI which is useless to watch WC2014 without payment. Had to search storage room and pull out old antenna and watch it analog. Ordering Maige IPTV from China so will see how it goes. For 2,500 THB a year with all sport and HBO it's better deal than any Thai service.

I am interested in the Maige box as well. Can you please let us know your thoughts when you get it up and running. Thanks.

The cheapest box available at Big C is about 1200 Baht (exclude antenna).

Antenna is about another 300 Baht.

If you were previously using an antenna to watch TV, then you don't need to buy a new antenna.

Picked up a Samart Strong at Tesco, just to try it out.

It's 690 baht, so if I could be bothered to jump through whatever hoops are necessary to get one of the vouchers, it would have been free.

So far, so good. Comes with the HDMI cable and an old 3 phono cable for old TVs and batteries for the remote. Only comment is the length of the cable on the power supply is very short.

Has a USB port to let you record, although not used it yet.