Sombat Leelapata, acting deputy secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said all five members of the committee agreed to send Thai TV a written notice on the revocation of the licences, which had been suspended for 90 days pending payment.

However, Thai TV refused to hand over the Bt288-million second instalment of its upfront licence fee as well as the annual fee.

Led by media veteran Pantipa “Sister Tim” Sakulchai, Thai TV decided last year to relinquish its licences to run news channel Thai TV and another channel for children and family called Loca, which was later renamed MVTV Family.

The company also failed to pay its annual licence fee, which is about 2 per cent of revenue.

Thai TV is expected to receive this notice from the NBTC within two days. The broadcaster still owes the remaining five instalments of the upfront licence fees worth Bt1.63 billion plus value added tax, which are due within 30 days.

It will also have to shoulder the unpaid annual licence fees and a daily fine of Bt60,000.

This also means that Thai TV is blacklisted from any broadcasting activities. Another notice will be sent to Thai Public Broadcasting Service, which leases its network to the financially ailing broadcaster. The NBTC will also seek Bt1.63 billion compensation from Bangkok Bank under the bank’s guarantee.

“If Thai TV also fails to pay such costs, the bank guarantor should assume this responsibility on behalf of its customer,” he said.

Suchat Chomkul, legal adviser for Thai TV, said his client would send a protest letter to NBTC against its decision yesterday and petition the Central Administrative Court to void the NBTC’s order and call for a temporary injunction because the company will not allow the NBTC to claim the bank guarantee.