Experts say Thailand’s ‘must carry’ rule must end after World Cup fiasco
Experts at a seminar slammed the way Thailand obtained broadcasting rights for the 2022 Fifa World Cup as a fiasco on Sunday.
The seminar was held by the Democrat Party to air complaints after the rights were purchased for 1.2 billion baht under the “must carry” rule for free broadcasts.
Half of the purchase fund came from public money in the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF).
However, three conglomerates – Charoen Pokphand Group (CP), ThaiBev and PTT – stepped in with contributions to meet Fifa’s asking price.
CP’s broadcasting arm True Corp was then allocated half of the World Cup’s 64 matches including the final, which sparked complaints from other broadcasters.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) was severely criticised by experts and politicians for approving the rights purchase.
Paisan Limsathit, a legal expert from Thammasat University, said the NBTC had overstepped its jurisdiction by organising the purchase, which should have been managed by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).
He explained that the NBTC is responsible for regulating broadcasters but that did not include purchasing broadcasting rights or approving funds to do so from the Universal Service Obligation fund.
The purchase of World Cup rights was also not in line with the objectives of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for Public Interest (BTFP), which had only 2 billion baht, he added.
Paisan said the rights should have been purchased with money from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) or the private sector.
Kemmatat Poldej, former president of the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT), said broadcasting licences for sport were the most expensive. Higher viewership means higher licence prices, so their purchase needs to be discussed first, he added.
Watanya Bunnag, former manager of the Thailand national under-23 football team, pointed out that money to buy the rights came from the sale of digital broadcast licenses, which are a national asset. She added that the NSDF was also funded by the national budget.
Watanya, a Democrat candidate for the next election, explained that Thailand had never faced difficulties obtaining broadcasting rights before the digital television era because back then, television channels gathered purchase budgets and found revenue from sponsors.
The problems only arrived with the NBTC's “must have/must carry” rule in the digital television era, as the regulator’s attempt to disrupt the market had backfired, she said.
Watanya reiterated her call for the NBTC to review the “must carry” rule to avoid future problems.
All 64 matches of the World Cup in Qatar will be broadcast live on 17 subscription-free Thai television channels.
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