Boonklee Plangsiri, chairman of iTV, re-signed yesterday ahead of today's Cabinet meeting, which will decide the fate of the debt-ridden broadcaster.

The company faces a full-blown crisis with the resignation of Boonklee, who is also executive chairman of Shin Corp. Last week, Somprasong Boonyachai, president of Advanced Info Service (AIS) - Shin's cellular flagship - also stepped down as a director of iTV.

The departure of Boonklee and Somprasong signals that Temasek Holdings of Singapore, which owns 96 per cent of Shin and indirectly half of iTV shares, will likely throw in the towel and return the broadcasting licence of the broadcaster to the Prime Minister's Office.

The station, charged with breaching a broadcasting contract, is obliged to pay overdue concession fees and hefty fines totalling almost Bt100 billion to the government by a March 6 deadline, or else it could face a bankruptcy suit and have its licence revoked. Today, the Cabinet will consider five options proposed by iTV.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday suspended trading in iTV stock as the company's auditor issued a disclaimer of opinion on its financial statements, saying the figures failed to reflect the actual position of the company.

Its shares closed at 94 satang before suspension. Trading will resume today with an NP (notice pending) sign until iTV submits audited financial statements or until it is certain the statements will not be further amended.

An iTV source said the government might lodge a bankruptcy suit against the company if iTV failed to pay Bt2 billion in overdue concession fees to the PM's Office by March 6. The bankruptcy suit would also mean iTV would carry more debts incurred from the fines than its assets.

More than 1,700 iTV employees are also feeling nervous about

their job security. The source added that the company had set aside a certain amount of money to compensate employees who might be laid off, despite Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's promise that the legal wrangling would not affect employees.

A government source said if iTV became bankrupt, MCOT could step in to operate the channel. The Finance Ministry owns 75 per cent of MCOT.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula yesterday said the Cabinet would today consider five options proposed by the embattled broadcaster relating to its Bt2.21 billion in overdue concession fees. One is to have Shin sell all of its shares in iTV and allow the government to revoke its concession.

Pridiyathorn gave assurances iTV staff would not be laid off and that if possible the station could keep running existing programming.

Boonklee was not available for comment yesterday. He has been keeping a low profile since Temasek's takeover of Shin in January 2006. Currently, Boonklee is executive chairman and director of Shin and a director of AIS.

Boonklee has a gentleman's agreement with Temasek to stay with Shin before he resigns from all of his posts in the group at the end of this year. He was known as the right-hand man of ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who entrusted him with running his telecom empire when he left to pursue politics.

Shin was founded by the Shinawatra family, which disposed of its majority share to the group led by Temasek in January 2006. The transaction triggered street protests by those regarding the deal as selling national telecom assets to a foreign entity.

Yesterday, iTV announced a net loss of Bt1.78 billion for last year - a 362-per-cent fall from its net profit of Bt679.11 million, or 56 satang a share, in 2005.

"The huge net loss resulted mainly from the accounting recognition of the accrued differences in concession fees payable for the period 2004-06, and the penalty interest charges of the difference in concession-fee payments. All of these amounted to a total sum of Bt2.51 billion," iTV said in its statement submitted to the SET yesterday.

The political environment and a general economic slow-down also has affected advertising revenues. Last year, iTV reported Bt2.16 billion in total revenues, a fall of 7.9 per cent from 2005.

Usanee Mongkolporn,

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation