NBTC secretary-general removed over 2022 Fifa World Cup fiasco

The purchase would have cost the commission 600 million baht.

In a meeting on Friday, NBTC commissioners voted 4:2 to remove acting secretary-general Trairat Viriyasirikul from his position. A source familiar with the matter said an investigation committee has been established to consider disciplinary actions.

Trairat has been replaced by his deputy Phumisit Mahavesiri, the source said.

NBTC decided that Trairat had violated the commission’s regulations by discussing the budget proposal with the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) first.

The 600 million required for the rights would have come from NBTC’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for Public Interest or USO Fund as it serves NBTC’s Universal Service Obligation mission.

The USO Fund gave birth to the controversial “must have” rule, which mandates that key sporting events like Fifa World Cup be made available on free television.

Other sporting events covered by this rule are the Olympic Games, the Paralympics, SEA Games, Asean Para Games, Asian Games and Asian Para Games.

Some parties see the rule as a waste of the state budget, especially if money is spent in certain tournaments that Thai athletes are not participating in.

The 2022 Fifa World Cup deal also sparked a legal dispute between NBTC and SAT, with the former demanding that the latter repay the 600 million baht. NBTC said SAT had breached the “must have” rule by handing True Corporation the exclusive rights to broadcast the matches online.

The 2022 Fifa World Cup broadcast rights reportedly cost 1.4 billion baht, with a lot of the money coming from private sponsors. True Corp contributed 300 million baht in exchange for exclusive rights to broadcast the matches on its True IPTV box and via its online platform.