Twenty-three companies submitted their bidding documents yesterday for digital TV, with 31 applications in total on the first day of submissions.
A bidder submits documents for a digital TV licence at the NBTC office. PORNPROM SATRABHAYA
The 31 applications represented more than 60% of the 49 bidding documents purchased by 33 companies since last month.
According to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, four companies _ Rose Media & Entertainment, Nation Kids, Thai TV and MCOT Plc _ tendered bids for children's channels.
Seven companies submitted applications for news channels, including Voice TV, DN Broadcasting, I-Sport Media, NBC Next Visions, Thai TV, Post TV and 3A Marketing Co.
In the category of variety standard-definition (SD) channels, 13 companies applied, including Voice TV, RS Television, Amarin Television, 411 Entertainment, VVV Broadcast, BBTV Satelvision, Bangkok Business Broadcasting, Thai TV, Touch TV, BEC-Multimedia, Thai Broadcasting, MCOT, GMM SD Digital TV.
Lastly, seven companies submitted bidding documents for variety high-definition (HD) channels including Bangkok Broadcasting and Television, Amarin Television, PM Group, BEC-Multimedia, Thai Broadcasting, MCOT and GMM HD Digital TV.
The NBTC plans to issue 24 licences for commercial-purpose digital TV channels _ three for children's channels and seven each for news, variety SD and variety HD channels.
Today is the last day bidding documents will be accepted.
Eight companies, which bought bidding documents, did not submit their proposals. They are Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, Mono Broadcast, Mono Generation, Mono TV, True DTT, Chan 25, Active Post and National Television and Communication.
Yesterday, the bidders submitted their documents and paid 10% of the starting price in each category as bank guarantees ahead of the auctions in the middle of December.
After the submission, the NBTC will review the bidding documents and the bidders' qualifications.
The process will take 45 days.
The auctions will be organised based on the highest starting price. They will start with variety HD, variety SD, news and then children's channels.
The starting price for variety HD channel is 1.51 billion baht, followed by 380 million baht for variety SD channel, 220 million baht for news channel and 140 million baht for children's channel.
Apart from the bidders' submissions, the NBTC's broadcasting committee yesterday approved six TV set models from three producers _ Sharp, Samsung and Provisions _ to be sold in Thailand. It also approved 16 models of set-top boxes yesterday.
The NBTC added more details about applicable services related to broadcasting. It is divided into three types of licences, covering shopping TV channels, interactive and TV-on demand services, and TV rating companies.
Additional rules will be drafted for each type of service, in line with current circumstances.
