“Broadcasting regulations have to be changed in accordance with the changing media landscape and technology,” Kematat Paladesh, president of Bangkok Media and Broadcasting – the operator of PPTV digitalTV channel – said yesterday.

Advertisingbased revenue will be no longer play a key role for broadcasters after audiences move to digital screens, such as videoondemand service, therefore they should offer their content across media platforms, she said.

“The new revenue stream for broadcasters in the near future will be from revenuesharing with owners of online media platforms,” he explained.

Broadcasting regulations need to be revised, therefore, in order to enable digitalTV operators to do this.

Kematat made these comments at a public forum, “Two years of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting in Thailand: How to move forward”, held yesterday by the Journalism and Mass Communications faculty of Thammasat University.

Chatchai Tawantarong, executive of Triple V Broadcast – the operator of digital channel Thairath TV – supported the idea of revising the broadcasting laws.

Others at the forum also expressed the opinion that law revision would be one solution to unlocking the problems faced by financially struggling TV broadcasters.

Media scholar Time Chuastapanasiri said the birth of digitalTV broadcasting had resulted in an oversupply crisis in the industry, and predicted that this would worsen this year due to fierce competition.

In parallel, consumer viewing behaviour is shifting from traditional channels like TV screens to streaming content service via online platforms, he said.

From the perspective of the media and advertising industry, a representative of the Media Advertising Association of Thailand told the forum that among the 24 commercial digitalTV channels, there were only 10 “topchoice” channels into which brands and advertisers preferred to pour their budgets.

Meanwhile, news programmes are the most popular shows among advertisers, followed by dramas and variety and game shows.

Lowranked TV operators might face difficulties in their business operations as a result of these trends, the representative said.

In response, Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said that although the planned publicrelations campaign for the digitalTV sector was still behind schedule, the NBTC’s Broadcasting Committee was keen to do what it could to support the industry.

“To help reduce operating costs for digitalTV operators, the committee can provide remedial measures, such as reducing the network leasing fee,” she added.

However, achieving these milestones depends to a great extent on the government rolling out its planned infrastructure investment of Bt1.8 trillion from this year through 2022.

“Growth is forecast to rise over the next two years, assuming that substantial public infrastructure investments proceed on schedule and the political climate is calm around national elections proposed for the second half of 2017,” the ADB said in its “Asian Development Outlook 2016” report released yesterday.

The infrastructure investment is expected to lift business confidence and private investment, while exports will remain weak.

Private consumption is expected to increase modestly in 2016 but then speed up next year, thanks mainly to stimulus measures.

Risks to the outlook include a worsening of the drought, which would hit incomes, private consumption and exports.

The bank forecasts rice production in major exporting countries – India, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam – to drop by 3.4 per cent this year because of drought.

Slower-than-anticipated growth in major trading partners and volatile global capital flows pose external risks, but this would be mitigated by sizeable current-account surpluses, relatively low external debt and substantial international reserves.

“The timely implementation of government investment projects is crucial. Delays would reduce public investment and damage consumer and business confidence alike,” it said.

Among Asean growth forecasts, Thailand is higher than Singapore’s 2 per cent this year and 2.2 per cent in 2017 as well as Brunei’s 1 per cent in 2016. Myanmar will show the highest growth rates at 8.4 and 8.3 per cent, allowing the region to show average growth of 4.5 and 4.8 per cent in these two years.

From 2008-14, Thailand suffered a significant decline in its potential growth rate, which is the lowest in Southeast Asia. In 2015, growth slowed in seven of the 10 Asean economies including Thailand, edging down the regional average to 4.4 per cent.

The region is expected to reverse its growth slowdown in 2016-17. Infrastructure investment is seen as boosting growth in Indonesia, while Myanmar rebounds from devastating floods in 2015. Malaysia faces another year of decelerating growth.

The bank forecasts growth of 5.7 per cent for all developing economies in Asia in 2016 and 2017, just as the United States and the euro area show sluggish growth and China undergoes a major economic transition.

China’s slowdown could cut both global and regional growth by nearly 1.8 percentage points.

Global headwinds notwithstanding, developing Asia will continue to contribute 60 per cent of world growth.

The impact in the region would be mainly on trade volumes and commodity prices.

Without structural reform, potential growth in many countries in the region will slide further because of unfavourable demographics, convergence with advanced economies and spillover from growth moderation in China. From 2008-14, average potential growth of developing Asia declined by 2 percentage points from its historical trend.

Kiatchai Sophastienphong, the vice minister for finance, yesterday said the government planned to encourage skilled workers who are employed overseas to return home in order to help solve the current skilled labour shortage in the aviation, logistics, biotechnology, and medical and wellness sectors. He said retired people living abroad will also be wooed, as many of them are experts in various fields. Financial experts in particular are urgently needed.

“The government has asked all embassy offices worldwide to collect information about Thais working abroad and their life and work experience before launching comprehensive packages to encourage them to return to their motherland,” Kiatchai said.

“Our main targets for the first phase are workers and experts in Hong Kong, Singapore, England, the US and Australia,” The Thai embassy in Hong Kong has already kicked off its data collection exercise.

Kiatchai said that the government also wanted to attract people working in the automotive, smart electronics, agricultural, biotechnology, digital and robotics sectors.

“There is no timeline for the action plan to get people to return to the country, but the government wants this scheme to begin this year,” he said.

Rolf-Dieter Daniel, president of the European Association for Business and Commerce, said that Thailand should take a holistic approach in developing mid-and long-term strategies to alleviate the labour shortage.

The EABC’s 2016 position paper unveiled yesterday said the resumption of talks between the EU and Thailand on a free-trade agreement is highly important to improve economic relations between them. The liberalisation of the service sector is key to help boost competitiveness, productivity, and economic growth. Thailand has been encouraged to allow further liberalisation and develop better use of hardware and software tools.

Overseas lessons were shared by TDRI researchers and outside experts at the TDRI’s annual academic conference on Tuesday, along with complaints about poor quality of public services in Thailand – ranging from education to public health – as the state plays conflicting roles.

The quality of telecom services improves as the state ceases its role as a service provider and acts as the policymaker and regulator. This also applies to the energy sector.

However, the state still sets policies and regulates and provides educational and public health services.

The Public Health Ministry owns hospitals nationwide. Rather than focusing on service improvement of hospitals and neutralising variations in services to the members of three public health schemes, it has been too busy with helping its hospitals cope with financial challenges.

“It is a worrying sign that in the past 10 years, state expenses expanded exponentially while economic growth could not catch up.

“But against higher expenses, the outcome deteriorated,” said Banyong Pongpanich, chief executive officer of Kiatnakin Bank.

“Lesser the power, lesser is corruption,” he said.

This would also lead to higher efficiency in the public sector.

Banyong and TDRI research director Deunden Nikomborirak highlighted the need for the state to move away from acting as a service provider.

In the public health sector, the current system led to zero competition among state-owned units, as none is accountable for poor service.

Health accreditation (HA) has been promoted in Thailand, but it does not guarantee that the accredited hospitals would win bigger financial support.

In France, all hospitals must strive for accreditation, while accredited hospitals in Australia are entitled to a 10-per-cent extra budget.

Greater participation by local administrative bodies and the private sector in public services should be promoted, she said.

In Germany, 50 per cent of hospitals are operated by local administrations. In Japan, 72 per cent are operated by non-profit organisations. In the United Kingdom, 96 per cent are operated by government units, which are not the health ministry.

The focus should also be on narrowing the service gaps in the three state health insurance schemes.

Civil servants get free birthing services and there is no limit on the number of children they can have.

However, workers covered by the Social Security Fund can seek allowances for only two children at Bt13,000 each.

“The state should view this from a user perspective, not a provider perspective. Users demand standard and varied services,” she said.

Mingsan Khaosaard, chairwoman of a foundation for public policy studies, said it is time for ownership to be transferred to local administrative bodies.

Due to their capacity constraints, these bodies should be asked which services they would like to take over.

Some of them have been successful enough to be models of management for the others, but in the transition, university lecturers could groom the rest.

Sarinee Achavanuntakul, managing director of Sal Forest and a panellist, said those in power must first acknowledge that the new world context – under the influence of climate change, the digital economy and other factors – demands new ideas and inclusiveness.

That would be achieved only when they guarantee an ecosystem that allows freedom of speech.

“Listening to the like-minded won’t help pinpoint problems. Development needs participation from other parties…Political and economic inclusiveness are correlated. They must grow together,” she stressed.

She praised Brazil for inviting public comments on a new Internet bill, as well as some Indonesian government units’ initiative to let locals vote on budget appropriations.

The public sector spends a huge amount on public relations but little on promoting public participation, she said.