However, the board will spend a month investigating the scandal involving Rai Som Co Ltd, which is majority owned by Sorrayuth. It will establish if the company violated any rules regarding advertising fee sharing, and if any insiders were involved.

The investigation is crucial given that it could lead to the cancellation of the two programmes. Since the coup and the change at MCOT's board of directors, Sorrayuth has been considered a target due to his alleged support for the Thaksin government.

MCOT chairman Boonplook Chaiket said after the board meeting yesterday that under the Phase 8 programme reshuffle, to take effect from January 1 until the middle of next year, MCOT would keep the ratio of news content at 40 per cent, documentary programmes at 30 per cent, and entertainment programmes at 30 per cent.

"The change will be only on non-prime time slots," he said, adding that prime-time shows were MCOT's strength in terms of ratings and market share.

MCOT's prime-time slot on Channel 9, which airs from 6.30-11pm, contributed almost 80 per cent of ad revenue. Prime-time advertising slots cost Bt200,000 to Bt300,000 a minute.

Boonplook said the board would like the new programming to be more diversified in terms of content and sources of information and have better quality and value to society. The programmes had to cover all audiences, both mainstream and for the disabled and underprivileged.

"We [MCOT] will join with local academic institutes to create the 'guidelines' to evaluate our programmes in many criteria such as content quality, audience feedback, and in terms of ratings," he said.

Vice president Aranrat Youkong said MCOT would increase the ratio of in-house programmes from 43 per cent to 50 per cent for next-year, while another 30 per cent would be jointly made with independent producers. The rest would be through selling time slots.

She said the same committee responsible for TV programming at MCOT over the past four years from Phases 1 to 7, would focus on balancing its quality content, which gives value to society, and entertainment content - which generates income for the station.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation