If I had Bt2 billion at the age of 45 and expected to live to 90, that would mean I could splurge on average annual expenses of Bt44.4 million. A tough job, but someone has to do it.

With Bt2 billion, a businessman could finance the construction of a large apartment block or housing estate. The money is also enough to fund a humble social project for years.

And Bt2 billion is also a huge-enough pile to fund the operating costs of a television channel for a year.

Yeah, that's what the Cabinet believes, and it agreed yesterday to allocate 2 per cent of a "sin tax", or Bt2 billion a year, to finance its mission of turning TITV into a non-commercial channel.

But without commercials, few producers would be willing to produce programmes. Most air programmes and are responsible for ad slots. Thus, they are encouraged to make good programmes to earn more ad income.

At a public television station, they would be given a certain budget for a predesigned programme. This would be much like the way Channel 11 is operated. Notably, among six free television stations, Channel 11 enjoys the lowest rating in terms of viewership.

So no wonder that for a week now, Thai newspapers have been reporting that many of TITV's well-known crew are looking for new jobs.

There is widespread speculation about what TITV's rating, now third, will look like next year.

If asked, the TITV crew and producers could say the Bt2 billion is enough to ruin the

old and profitable iTV culture and create another Channel 11.

achara_d@nationgroup.com