Operator 'Must pay more'

The government has asked Channel 3 operator Bangkok Entertainment to pay a higher concession fee to state-owned MCOT in exchange for a 10-year extension of its contract.

PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey, who oversees MCOT, said Bangkok Enter-tainment, a wholly owned unit of BEC World, should pay the government agency at least Bt650 million a year, the rate now offered by TrueVisions so it could be allowed to carry

commercials. TrueVisions is already an MCOT concessionaire.

Under the present terms, Bangkok Entertainment pays only Bt200 million a year, or a combined Bt2 billion over 10 years.

"The MCOT board has the freedom to review the concession fee so it's in line with the prevailing economic situation. This will be done in accordance with the Public-Private Sector Joint Venture Act," Satit said, adding that the process was transparent and not politically motivated.

Pay-TV operator TrueVisions recently agreed to pay MCOT Bt650 million a year in exchange for the right to carry commercials. The amount is equivalent to 6.5 per cent of TrueVisions' annual revenue.

Automatic extension

However, Bangkok Enter-tainment managing director Pravit Maleenont argued his firm was supposed to receive an automatic 10-year extension as part of its 30-year concession contract signed in the late 1980s.

From the outset, the contract's concession fee was to remain unchanged, and once the first 20 years were completed, the contract would be extended unless the firm violated its terms and conditions.

"We've done nothing to vio-late the contract, so we don't think MCOT should be allowed to increase the concession fee. Any conditions we've signed in the main contract cannot be changed," he said.

Satit said Bangkok Enter-tainment, whose channel now has the biggest share of the free-TV ad market, needed to convince the public its offer of Bt2 billion for the next 10 years was fair.

Meanwhile, MCOT's labour union yesterday expressed dissatisfaction that the state-owned agency's board had failed to heed the union's proposal to review the financial benefits of the TrueVisions concession every three years.

MCOT chairman Suraphol Nitikraipot said such a proposal was too stringent for the private sector, because investors would not have long-term confidence in the future of TrueVisions.

Union president Suwit Mingmol said the board should have done more to protect the interests of MCOT, since it was a listed firm, whereas TrueVisions had already been delisted from the exchange.