The Association of Digital TV Operators has proposed what it believes will be a new long-term survival model for the industry, incorporating several measures to relieve the financial burdens of terrestrial digital TV operators and catch up with current ecosystems.
The solution includes four points:
Subsidising all rental fees (MUX) of broadcasting networks.
Waiving the remaining licence payments by using the upfront gained from future auctions of 700-megahertz spectrum.
Co-creation of a digital TV rating system through support from the NBTC.
Amendment of the must-carry rule in a way that generates additional revenue from operators' content.
The existing must-carry rule for broadcasting service states that locally licensed TV stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said it will pass the group's proposal to the relevant panel for in-depth study before making suggestions.
Most of the existing digital TV operators entered a combined five-year debt moratorium after the government in May invoked Section 44 powers to ease their financial burden.
The TV channels have to place an interest payment at a 1.5% rate for each year of the debt moratorium.
Concerning MUX, the NBTC is subsidising 50% of the rental fee for two years.
The operators' association said in its proposal that the 700MHz spectrum now in use by digital TV will be switched off in 2020 and used for telecom service instead, in line with the standards of the International Telecommunication Union and the World Radiocommunication Conferences.
In 2015 the groups officially endorsed Thailand's position to auction the 700MHz band for mobile communications.
The association said if the NBTC auctions the 700MHz spectrum and moves digital TV to the 400MHz range, the regulator could help TV operators by easing the remaining licence payments, using upfront funding gained from the future auction of the 700MHz spectrum.