Chulalongkorn University with media academics Join the opposition to the NBTC. Use the fund to buy the rights to the World Cup
Because the Sports Authority of Thailand has made a letter asking for the Television Broadcasting Commission. And the National Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is considering supporting the broadcasting royalties of the 2022 World Cup with a total purchase of up to 42 million baht including tax, or about 1,600 million baht. A meeting to consider this agenda will be held on November 9th
Faculty members from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University as well as academic media as listed below We object to approving the named funds for the following reasons:
1. If the NBTC considers approving funding for the broadcasting of the 2022 World Cup, it means taking money from the Television Broadcasting Research and Development Fund account. and public interest telecommunications services (NTC), established to allow people to receive broadcast services in television broadcast services. and telecommunications business thoroughly Promote and support the development of communication resources for research and development in broadcasting business. television business Telecommunications in the public interest, access to broadcasting services television service Telecommunications services for the disabled, the elderly, the disadvantaged, and people with various needs in society developing personnel and professional organisations, as well as supporting the development of safe and creative media funds
2. The source of the money The NBTC will use it in this case. Money from accounts with objectives related to broadcasting and television business, that is, account 1 and account 2 of the POT Fund.
3. Account 1 of the POT Fund This is the main account of the POT Fund which must meet all the objectives of the fund, The second account is the money for the General Service Obligation (USO) scheme The main objective is to support the public. Especially the disabled, the disadvantaged, and people with various needs in society receive comprehensive broadcasting and television services.
4. In the past, the NBTC used to support 240 million baht from the NBTC Fund to support the Sports Authority of Thailand to buy the rights to broadcast 5 Olympic Games, including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Swiss Confederation, Winter Olympic Games 2022 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, Summer Youth Olympic Games 2022 in Bangkok Dakar, Republic of Senegal and Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China by arguing and supporting the principles of its be a program that has a variety of sports and many types of sports that Thai people compete in. It can be within the scope of the objectives of the POT Fund, accounts 1 and 2.
5. The case of live broadcasting of the World Cup final which, despite its characteristics relating to the broadcasting and television industry, aims at Thai people to watch football programmes, but it is a specialist sport that people Thailand provides it, there are many interests And the Thai people are not participating in this last World Cup tournament, so they do not have the characteristics that come under the objectives of the POT Fund, Accounts 1 and 2, to create and developing communication resources for the benefit of the public.
Creating opportunities for access to broadcasting services and television matters for Thai people in all groups is a huge waste of money that should be used for the public benefit to broadcast live only for the 2022 World Cup in a period of only 1 month.
6. On the Fund’s website, EXAT has published the decisions of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fund’s Services. No. 4/2022 on April 28, 2022 (which was the first meeting after the appointment of the new NBTC committee and after which the minutes of the meeting were not published on the website) indicated the rest of the remaining fund. EXAT account 1 (including digital TV auction money and general money) is 3,435.07 million baht, while account 2 is 804.27 million baht, while news reports from Isara News Agency on November 3, 2022 Please note information from news sources in the NBTC that currently, the remaining balance of the NBTC fund that can be used in this case only about 2,000 million baht. It can be seen that the remaining budget in the POT Fund in relation to the broadcasting business and the television business is not a large budget. Currently, there are still many people, especially children, the disabled, the elderly, the disadvantaged and people with various needs in society who do not have access to broadcasting and television services. as well as the lack of quantity and quality of broadcast media and children’s television, which really needs investment in building social security.
Therefore, consider taking money from the fund The NBTC, which is common money for the benefit of the public, will be used to support the live broadcast of the World Cup final. Therefore, it is contrary to the objectives of the NBTC Fund and has a great chance of affecting the liquidity of the funds, having a significant impact on the opportunity to access the services of the television broadcasting business. and telecommunications of Thai people in a wide area Research and development of the country’s communication resources was disrupted. and will continue to affect the lack of opportunities for socio-economic development of the Thai people in the country as a whole
Faculty members from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University and academics in the media as listed below, therefore oppose the use of funds from the NBTC Fund to support the live broadcast of the 2022 World Cup and propose to the Country Sports Authority Thai considered other ways of cooperation that do not affect the public interest, and called on the NBTC and NBTC to explain the latest financial status of the NBTC Fund. as well as considering this agenda transparently and fairly, taking into account protecting the public interest to find a solution to this problem without affecting the public and representing the protection of rights and freedom of access to public sector broadcasting and television services wider
In this regard, faculty members from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University and media academics send a letter inviting the media to participate in a press release opposing the use of the POT Fund Go buy’ r rights to the World Cup on November 8th.
