Some of the regulations for the sector should therefore be amended, said Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).

He said that after the change in the media landscape due to the fierce competition among digital-TV players, the regulator believed that launching of all 12 planned digital channels for community-based service could be an unhealthy prospect for most of them.

At the practical level, running a community-based digital-TV operation would seem to be more difficult than commercial and public TV broadcasting, because of some of the conditions and limitations imposed on community-based operators under the current broadcasting regulations, he said.

For example, they must secure their own financial support to run a digital-TV station without being able to seek commercial benefits, Natee said, adding: “This seems to be contrary to the fact that they have to be safe and sound enough to serve local people’s needs.”

He raised the issue during a public forum to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the establishment of television service in the Kingdom, organised by the Public Relations Department.

Law amendment floated

“Three or four [community-based] stations should be sufficient for this purpose. Therefore, amendment of the law should be considered by the relevant authorities,” he suggested.

In addition, under Article 49 of the Act on Organisation to Assign Radio Frequency and to Regulate the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Services, the people sector shall be permitted to use frequencies for public interest and non-profit for community service in a proportion of not less than 20 per cent of frequencies allocated in each licensing area.

If his idea were to be adopted, this part of the act would also need to be amended, he said.

Asked about overall progress on the transition to digital-TV broadcasting, the NBTC chief said he believed that by next year, 40 per cent of the country’s households would be able to access free-to-air programmes via digital receivers, compared with 30 per cent now, after the roll-out of digital-TV transmitters in other parts of the nation.