Thai editorial: Digital TV makes wrong kind of splash

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EDITORIAL
Digital TV makes wrong kind of splash

Operators fear a bloodbath, blaming the national regulator for a botched transition from analog

BANGKOK: -- One year after digital television licences were auctioned in Thailand, the 24 winners have little to celebrate. Audience ratings are nothing to boast about, with TV channels struggling to survive financially.

Feeling the heat most is Thai TV Co, which has made headlines as the only licence holder that failed to pay its second instalment of fees to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.

Thai TV, which operates two digital channels, now wants to give up its licences because the digital TV business isn't as lucrative as it expected. Owner Pantipa Sakulchai has said the company lost Bt300 million operating its channels, one devoted to news and the other to children's programming, and now it can't afford to pay the fees.

She singled out the NBTC for blame, accusing the regulator of inefficient distribution of digital TV subsidy coupons to viewers and poor management of network expansion. It had thereby failed to support the transition from analog to digital TV, said Pantipa.

That criticism has been echoed by other operators, and there's general consensus that the early departure of Thai TV is just the tip of the iceberg.

Signs of trouble emerged early, when operators put in massive bids for the licences in expectation of recouping their investments easily. Thai TV Co far surpassed the starting price of Bt140 million for its children's channel, eventually bidding Bt646 million. The company offered Bt1.33 billion for the news channel after bidding began at Bt220 million.

Thai TV and the other auction winners were banking on returns in line with the income of existing terrestrial TV channels. But the NBTC's management of the transition did not aid their cause. Poor distribution of viewer coupons barred access to digital TV for millions of potential customers. This was compounded by a lack of publicity for the switch. It has taken a full year for the telecom regulator to get its publicity campaign into gear.

The liberalisation of an industry as large as broadcasting was never going to be easy. The idea to make TV and radio resources "public property" was enshrined in the Constitution, but executing that plan is proving to be an uphill battle.

The NBTC auctioned off a total of 24 commercial channels, meaning most of the industry's major players remain in business. But the number of free-TV channels has jumped fourfold, from six to 24, fostering cutthroat competition with little refereeing from the regulator. The first to fall has been Thai TV, but it won't be the last - others are also bleeding money.

Meanwhile the regulator is still behind schedule. It has failed to meet its own deadline for distributing coupons, with delivery of the last batch postponed to next month. The operators are maintaining their bombardment of criticism, complaining of a lack of support. And the poor digital-TV ratings are being blamed on the NBTC dragging its feet.

If Thailand is to follow through on the constitutional blueprint for broadcasting, the regulator must up its game. It must clear the obstacles for commercial TV and crack on with the second phase of the plan - to award licences for public and community TV channels. The non-commercial channels are at the core of the charter's directive for a broadcasting scene that serves the public interest.

But before it enters this new phase of liberalisation, the NBTC must pass its first test. Unless the regulator can substantially improve its performance, the remaining TV operators face a bleak future. If most end up handing back their licences, the liberalisation of the TV industry will have failed.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Digital-TV-makes-wrong-kind-of-splash-30261987.html


-- The Nation 2015-06-10