"The decision on a possible fine against iTV will have to wait for legal clarification from the Office of the Attorney General [OAG]," Permanent Secretary Rongphol Charoenphan said.

Rongphol, tasked with overseeing the iTV concession, said the fine, if imposed, would be based on the amount of fees owed before the arbitration board ruled in favour of a reduction.

A source in the office said a special civil attorneys unit of the OAG had clarified that the Central Administrative Court's ruling that iTV must resume its original programming ratio and make back payments of concession fees took effect on May 9.

"That means the company must air news programmes for 70 per cent of the prime time period and pay back concession fees of Bt1.7 billion. It is also subject to the annual concession fee of Bt1 billion, against the Bt230 million that was approved by the Arbitration Court," the source said.

The source admitted that the civil attorneys unit's judgement had not yet been certified by the OAG. Thus, the issue would be considered again on June 19, he said.

If the OAG agrees with the civil attorney unit' s judgement, the source said, the PM's Office would discuss penalties with iTV. "Because the company reduced its prime-time news content to 50 per cent from 70 per cent in April 2004, it must pay a penalty of Bt76 billion."

The penalty is based on a clause in the concession that allows the PM's Office to charge iTV 10 per cent of its annual revenue for every day of the violation.

In a lengthy court battle, the management of the television station sought and received an arbitration ruling to reduce the fees.

The government contested the ruling and won a Central Administrative Court ruling overturning the decision.

Rongphol said the OAG was checking whether the government could start fining iTV before the completion of the appellate review.

The station management is scheduled to lodge its appeal against the court's verdict today.