Funds to secure World Cup football broadcast rights to come from NBTC budget
The national telecom watchdog will foot the bill to acquire the broadcast rights for Fifa World Cup 2022 to ensure that people in Thailand can watch the matches for free, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said on Wednesday.
Prawit said that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will use its budget to purchase the broadcast rights for the World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
“The deal has yet to be finalised, but the budget will come from the NBTC,” the deputy PM said.
The World Cup is one of the sport events under the “must-have” rule imposed by the NBTC since 2012 to be made available for free on television.
Other sport events covered by this rule are: the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, SEA Games, Asean Para Games, Asian Games and Asian Para Games.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin clarified on Wednesday that he was not aware of the details as he was not responsible for the deal, although he had been involved in broadcast deal negotiations in the past.
Somsak estimated the licence fee to be under 1 billion baht, adding that the government still has around 300 million baht leftover budget from previous broadcasting deals.
It is best to finish negotiating the deal as soon as possible, because the price will usually go up closer to the event, he said.
