Dr Somkiat Tangkitwanich, of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said it was reasonable to bring iTV back to public-service broadcasting.

"The Thai people have plenty of media choices such as cable and satellite TV. My view is that Thailand still needs a TV channel for public-service broadcasting," said Somkiat. "It is quite obvious from the latest election that those who watched free TV channels voted differently to those who watched cable TV channels. TV is a significant media form that leads to the free flow of ideas and information and Thai people still face a problem in freely accessing TV which is independent," he said.

iTV said it would tomorrow appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court against the Central Administrative Court's decision on May 10 which stipulated that iTV must come under the original concession conditions, meaning it must pay hefty concession fees and present a heavy concentration of news programming.

In January 2004, the Arbitration Court allowed iTV to pay a lower fee and adjust its contents more towards entertainment.

Somkiat said the iTV case had been a mistake from the beginning. The terms of reference were done on the pattern of private companies based on commercial benefits, instead of aiming at turning iTV into a public-service network.

"iTV has lacked a governance structure to assure it really benefits the general public without any interference from other parties such as politicians," said Somkiat.

He said there were only two options for the future of iTV.

Under the first option, a government agency such as Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister should acquire the station and de-list it from the stock market. The government could then issue new regulations to enhance public-service broadcasting and establish a new governing body independent from the government and directly owned by the public. The government should provide enough budget to fund the station.

Somkiat also expressed another option for iTV: to become a commercial public-service station operated by the private sector.

"Under this option, the government should amend the concession contract to be fair to the new shareholders and make the station a commercial operation," he said, adding that the new company should be accepted by the public and its programme content strictly managed for the purpose of public service.

There should be governing structure as well as an auditing process from society, although commercials would be allowed to provide returns for the private-sector operator.

Dr Ubonrat Siriyuwasak, president of the Media Reform Campaign, said many TV channels in Thailand have been operated by the private sector and the country lacks a station that offers true public-service broadcasting.

"Anyway, I would like to share a different view from Dr Somkiat. My view is that a public service TV station should realise the right of the general public to access information and to express valuable ideas," said Ubonrat. She said the station's source of income and ownership should be the general public.

"The new iTV public-service station should create a subscriber base, so that more than 80 per cent of its income came from the public," she said. People should view iTV as a basic utility, like electricity or water, and its content should be for the benefit of the general populace, she said.

"The problem with iTV is that it is not independent," said Dr Pana Thongmee-arkom, a lecturer in mass communications at Chulalongkorn University. He said iTV had never been designed to be a public-service station.

"The mission of iTV was to make it an independent news station, which was operated on a commercial basis," said Pana.

Its other problem was the lack of a dominant body to manage the station and the skyrocketing concession fee.

"The real debate is whether we should convert iTV into a public-service station, or create a new station from the ground up?

"Which would contribute more to society, and which would be the more cost-effective?" asked Pana.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation