MCOT picks former Nation executive as president

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MCOT picks former Nation executive as president



BANGKOK: -- Former chief executive of a publishing company, Nation International Edutainment Plc, Mr Siwaporn Chomsuwan, has been appointed president of MCOT Plc, broadcaster of Modernine TV or Channel 9.

The appointment was agreed upon by the MCOT board chaired by Mr Tevin Vongvanich on Tuesday.

MCOT has been in operation without the president for six months after the military coup and the military junta began to overhaul all state enterprise boards.

There were two candidates for the post. The other was Mr Yutthasak Suppasorn, a former director of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion.

Mr Siwaporn was considered a dark-horse candidate but the board picked him because he is most appropriate with expertise and experience in the media when he worked in the Nation Group.

Mr Siwaporn was also former managing director of Amarin Book Center Co, a subsidiary of Amarin Printing and Publishing Plc.

The major task of the new president was projected to regain the state-owned broadcaster’s ability and financial status.

MCOT reported net profits in the first nine months of this year at 450 million baht, down by 62.2% year-on-year, on revenue of 3.4 billion, down by 24.4%.

Its poor performance was blamed mainly on lower concession fees and high fixed costs, particularly for digital TV licences.
Its concession with cable operator True Visions expired in September, while concessions with BEC World Plc (analogue) and True Visions are scheduled to end in 2020.

In terms of ratings, Workpoint TV last month took over Channel 9’s position as the third most-watched channel in terms of viewers.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/mcot-picks-former-nation-executive-president


-- Thai PBS 2014-11-27