The government has acted properly in refusing to use taxpayers' money to fund the digital TV operators who claim to be losing money. That is not to say, however, that the station owners don't have a point. The government and, especially, the telecommunications regulators have performed poorly, to understate the situation. Even if the public doesn't bail out the desperate stations, it will lose out in the end anyhow.
The current state of affairs had an all-industry group, the Association of Digital TV Operators asking, then begging, now virtually demanding government action. Specifically, members are pressing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to wield his Section 44 powers to subsidise their TV stations directly. They also claim the right to refuse to pay -- they call it "defer" -- the remaining digital TV licence fee, worth a combined 16 billion baht. They had paid a combined 34 billion baht to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), or 64% of the total 50.86 billion baht fee they agreed to pay in April, 2014, in order to own and operate their TV stations.
It must be noted here that the pleas for government bailouts have not been accompanied by any attempt at openness by the stations. The Digital TV group, as a whole, is likely having trouble meeting payrolls and adjusting cash flows. But the truth is that the members are asking to get their hands on public money without revealing the real extent of their problems.
That said, there is some blame to go around. Gen Prayut's quite proper response to those who bought the rights to operate digital TV stations is that no success is ever guaranteed in business. New businesses open every day in Thailand, but bad or mishandled ones pull down their shutters every day as well. In harsh terms, the prime minister is correct. The men and women of the association walked into the TV rights auction with their eyes open.
The auction, however, was flawed. This has been said many times since December 2013 when it opened. Clearly, the critics then were correct. The Yingluck Shinawatra administration allowed the NBTC to go ahead with the sale of TV channels in a way, and at a time, that should not have occurred. The NBTC, which had previously run a frankly shambolic auction of the 3G spectrum, clearly wasn't up to the task of conducting a proper digital TV auction.
The very strange auction procedure put 24 licences up for bidding -- far more than the market could handle. Rather than allow the market to decide the form of the stations, the NBTC dictated the formats of the licences -- news, documentaries, entertainment and so on. There has never been a successful market in the world established on such a basis. The NBTC's terms assured there still isn't.
With Yingluck's government crumbling at the time, the NBTC ran the show. Eager businessmen, women and groups bid up the licence prices to a level that seemed unbelievable to bystanders. And while the NBTC theoretically secured 50.86 billion baht in licence fees, the truth is that it is yet to be fully paid. The business interests that agreed to pay that remaining amount for the 24 digital broadcasting licences have no current plans to pay either.
The options are somewhat limited. In no way should Gen Prayut climb down over the debts the digital TV operators still owe for the licences. The nation has almost completely switched over to digital TV now, and several of the digital stations are doing roaring business, although several are also dying financially.
If the public will not support the 24 stations licensed in 2014 by watching them, it should not be taxed for not watching. It seems inevitable that some stations will be forced to fold. The only room for government intervention is to arbitrate possible sales in case of bankruptcies.
