BEC World 'ready' for digital TV

BEC World is ready to foray into digital TV broadcasting, executive director Pravit Maleenont said.

He added that he was not worried about the competition, because of his company's high potential to produce quality programmes for the upcoming digital platform.

BEC is keen to take part in the trial of digital broadcasting once the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) permits all free-TV operators to conduct one, Pravit said.

He added that the company had gradually upgraded its broadcasting system to cater to the digital TV era.

The NBTC plans to switch radio and TV broadcasters from analogue to digital systems within four years after its spectrum-management master plan takes effect, expected this quarter.

BEC World is the parent company of Bangkok Entertainment Co, which operates Thai TV Channel 3 under a concession agreement with MCOT. Its concession term will end in eight years.

Recently, NBTC vice chairman Natee Sukonrat said he hoped to see the number of terrestrial digital TV channels grow to 100 within five years after the commission starts auctioning licences for this service.

But Pravit is doubtful that the number of channels will grow that high, as there are just a few broadcasters with potential to provide promising digital-TV content. He estimated that if a broadcaster wanted to create 40 digital TV channels, it would need to invest Bt3 billion to do so.

Of Channel 3's current daily programmes, 13 hours a day are news content, while 11 hours are entertainment. Revenue from the latter accounts for 70 per cent of the total. Its advertising rate is about Bt500,000 per minute for prime-time programmes.