Channel 3 submits new demand

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Channel 3 submits new demand

BANGKOK: -- Channel 3 TV this afternoon submitted a three-point demand to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission in a renewed attempt to resolve the conflict with the broadcasting committee.

BANGKOK: -- Channel 3 TV this afternoon submitted a three-point demand to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission in a renewed attempt to resolve the conflict with the broadcasting committee.

The demand was handed over to Mr Thakorn Tanthasit, secretary-general of the NBTC by a top executive of Channel 3 Mr Prawit Maleenont.

Channel 3 is demanded that the NBTC reconsider its resolution dated September 8 ordering all satellite and cable television operators to stop broadcasting Channel 3’s analogue programmes and to review NBTC’s resolution dated February 3 demanding Channel 3 to end its role as free television operator or to end the analogue broadcasts.

Channel 3 is also demanding that it be allowed to broadcast its programmes in analogue platform as usual until there is a resolution on the conflict between Channel 3 and the broadcasting committee.

After receiving the three-point demand, Mr Thakorn said the NBTC would call a meeting on next Wednesday to discuss whether the demand should be accepted for consideration or not.

If the demand is to be reviewed, he said that a legal committee will be formed to look into the demand and its implications, he said, adding that if the demand is to be rejected Channel 3 will have to follow the rule of the game which is to switch to digital platform.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/channel-3-submits-new-demand/

-- Thai PBS 2014-09-12

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Only in Thailand

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NBTC board to decide next week on Ch 3 petition
Watchiranont Thongtep
The Nation

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit, left, receives a written petition from Pravit Maleenont, executive director of BEC World, requesting a revision of the recent order by the broadcasting committee that Channel 3, which does not use the new digital format.

BANGKOK: -- The 10 board members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will decide next week whether to revise the recent order by its broadcasting committee banning Channel 3 from cable and satellite TV networks after the analog channel's operator lodged a written petition against the edict.

"I am trying my best to avoid the blackout of Channel 3" from cable/satellite," Pravit Maleenont, executive director of BEC World, the parent company of Bangkok Entertainment Company, the channel's operator, said yesterday after handing the written petition to NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit.

That was all Pravit had to say to the press before departing from the NBTC head office.

In the petition, which is marked to the attention of all NBTC commissioners led by chairman Thares Punsri, Channel 3 requests a revision of the decision made by the broadcasting committee on Monday, which ordered all cable and satellite TV operators to drop the channel.

Channel 3 also wants a revision of the "must-carry" rule imposed by the broadcasting panel on February 3. That rule limits the definition of "national free TV" to the 24 terrestrial-based digital channels, which freezes Channel 3 out because its programming is in the old analog format. Another request from BEC is that if the NBTC decides to accept this issue for consideration, Channel 3 should be kept on the cable and satellite networks for a certain period to make sure audiences are not affected.

Takorn said the 10-member NBTC board would make a decision on the matter next Wednesday.

He added that there were three options for the board members. The first is that they accept this request for consideration and pass the issue on to a subcommittee on legal administration for consultation. A second option is setting up a special committee to work on the issue in detail.

The third option is to reject the BEC request for consideration.

Peerapong Manakit, one of the NBTC commissioners who agreed to the issuance of an official order to cable and satellite operators to drop Channel 3, said the broadcasting committee's decision was based on an existing law. Therefore, he stressed, any decision by the NBTC's board must also be in accordance with this law.

Suphab Kleekachai, chief adviser at ThaiTV and the Loca channel and president of the Digital Terrestrial TV Business Club, said the NBTC board should remember that the transition to digital TV was crucial for the future of the Thai broadcasting industry.

"Though all 24 digital terrestrial TV operators are not involved in the conflict between Channel 3 and the NBTC, we do hope that all members of the watchdog will keep the promise they made to all bidders before the digital TV auction last year," Subhab said.

He said he and his colleagues in the digital TV business would keep a close watch on this issue "as we need to see a quick transition from the analog to the digital TV era".

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/NBTC-board-to-decide-next-week-on-Ch-3-petition-30243173.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-13