Close to 5,000 people could be affected by six digital TV channels shutting down after the government's decision to let the channels exit the business without any financial penalties.
The Association of Digital TV Broadcasting is urging digital TV channels that opt to leave the business to provide proper severance packages for staff, in line with labour regulations.
Suphap Kleekachai, president of the association, said Friday was the deadline for existing digital TV channels to submit proposals on whether they plan to exit the sector without any additional financial penalties.
There are at least six channels that may decide to exit, particularly two that operate programmes for children and families, because of unfavourable business sentiment, he said.
A source in the TV industry who requested anonymity told the Bangkok Post that up to six channels may be shuttered based on the business environment and financial burdens.
The six are Channels 13 and 28 of BEC Group; MCOT's kid-oriented Channel 14; Spring News Channel 19 of News Network Corporation; New TV Channel 18 by DN Broadcast; and Bright TV's Channel 20.
Each digital TV channel's board will have held meetings by May 9, one day ahead of Friday's deadline.
"We are concerned over the next phase after the exit, as it is a bitter time for businesses, particularly in the media industry, which has been increasingly affected by fast-changing communications technologies, particularly social media networks such as YouTube and Facebook," Mr Suphap said.
He said each digital TV channel has 300 employees on average, and if six channels decide to exit and lay off their staff, the number of people affected could be as many as 5,000 if family members are factored in.
"TV channel staff will have a hard time seeking out new jobs in the existing job market," Mr Suphap said.
He said the association wants digital TV channels to quickly pay compensation benefits to their staff at optimum rates.
The group is urging the broadcasting regulator not to delay compensating the exiting channels for the remaining licence terms.
Mr Suphap said the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has insisted it will compensate the channels in a timely manner after their exits and expects to make the payments around August.
"Some part of the compensation that the digital TV channels get from the NBTC should be used to pay compensation to their staff after the exit," he said.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said the NBTC has not calculated the exact figure of compensation each channel would receive upon exit, though each channel could calculate its own figure based on the NBTC's public calculation formula.
"Each exiting channel will be compensated," he said, "but the assistance they got from the previous must-carry rule and broadcasting network rental fee subsidy, as well as their annual net profit, will be subtracted from the total compensation."
Mr Takorn acknowledged that two digital TV channels airing children's and family programming may decide to exit because generating advertising revenue proved difficult.
The two channels are Channel 13 operated by BEC Group and Channel 14 operated by MCOT.