September 28, 2012: Television and radio broadcasters have raised concerns that they will face higher operating costs if the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission imposes a 2-per-cent licence fee.
Dialogue on this issue became heated among broadcasters and related business operators at a public hearing held by the NBTC yesterday on the draft regulations for broadcast-licence fees.
If the regulation comes into effect next month, radio and television broadcasters – including digital terrestrial, satellite and cable television operators – must pay 2 per cent of their gross revenue for the licence and another 2 per cent to the Universal Service Obligation fund. The USO fund is for research and development into broadcasting and telecommunication services, overseen by the NBTC.
Industry representatives said the proposed licence fee would add a high cost to their businesses, possibly causing some of them to fail in the near future.
Nipon Naksompop, president of the Satellite Television Association of Thailand, said the association’s members had called for a flat Bt20,000 annual fee.