Sue for bankruptcy if iTV misses deadline

A group of non-governmental organisations yesterday pressed the government to sue iTV for bankruptcy if it failed to pay Bt97 billion in outstanding concession fee and fines by Tuesday.

Rossana Torsitakul, the head of 30 anti-corruption NGOs, said the government could be held accountable if it did not.

The government has said it will take legal action to collect the sum. Critics warn that the state cannot just write it off since the fine was incurred under a concession contract.

"If there were a write-off, the public would see there had been a compromise with the culprit. If iTV faces a bankruptcy suit, Temasek group of Singapore, the major shareholder, may then sue Shin Corp, and so on," said Rossana.

iTV, formerly controlled by ousted premier Thaksin Shina-watra's Shin Corp, is facing a March 6 deadline to pay the fine or have its concession and frequency confiscated by the government.

Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan, the PM's Office minister in charge of state media agencies, has raised the possibility of reforming the operations of all state-owned national television networks, namely Channel 11, Channel 9 and iTV.

iTV, meanwhile, will be re-named TITV. During an interim period of four months, the station will be run by MCOT.

Dhipavadee also said the government would merge the national telecommunications and broadcasting-regulatory bodies into one agency within the next four months so that the government was empowered to call new bids for the iTV frequency.

At present the government cannot do so because the regulatory body for the broadcasting industry has never been operational.

Meanwhile, the controversial PTV operation set up by former Thai Rak Thai Party officials yesterday attracted about 70 people when it launched its first political talk show at a Bangkok shopping centre.

The Nation

iTV may be taken off air in two days

ITV may have the plug pulled on it temporarily on Wednesday, PM's Office Minister Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan said yesterday.

Dhipavadee, who has been working to resolve the iTV saga, admitted that the problems surrounding the channel were much harder to crack than she had thought. She will now ask the Cabinet to decide whether to temporarily take iTV off the air.

"We have been trying to keep iTV afloat but after a week of dealing with this matter, we realised we must report the facts to the Cabinet and ask it to make a decision,'' she said.

Although the Cabinet resolution on February 27 stipulated that if iTV could not pay a fee, fine and interest of more than Bt100 billion by Tuesday, the Cabinet could revoke its concession. She said Cabinet members would be given information about how to manage the frequency if the concession was scrapped.

Channel 11, of the Public Relations Department, is a state agency and is therefore prevented from running iTV, a private company. However, MCOT-run Chan-nel 9 is a public company, which could operate the station with the approval of its board.

But a meeting of the MCOT board, which was due to discuss the management of iTV yesterday, was called off because of a lack of quorum. Only four board members attended while regulations stipulate that at least five must be in attendance. Another meeting was called for tomorrow.

MCOT board chairman Bunplook Chaiket said members would discuss iTV's operation after the Cabinet makes its decision tomorrow.

The next question is how to negotiate with iTV about its debts to the authorities and how to transfer government-owned equipment back into state hands.

And if iTV staff face the chop, the authorities must ensure they get severance pay, the minister said.

The MCOT union called on the board to think carefully before taking on the management of iTV.

The Nation

Quote:Government pulls plug on Thailand's only private television station

BANGKOK, March 6 (TNA) - Thailand's military-installed government Tuesday ordered the kingdom's only private television broadcaster, iTV --Independent TV -- to cease operations at midnight on the same day, pending legal counsel regarding the media outlet's indebtedness, ownership and management.

Even as the order was given, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont apologised to journalists covering the announcements, including iTV reports who wept at the news.

At the heart of the matter is a deadline for paying fines, unpaid fees and interest amounting to some Bt100 billion (US$2.9 billion). The broadcaster does not have the funds, mainly fines, which some critics say have been set at an impossibly high level.

The legal and financial aspects of the broadcaster's case appear to be inescapably intertwined with public -- and governmental -- perception of the station as being part of the Thaksin-Singapore 'deal' of January 2006 which has altered relations between the two countries.

Founded in 1992 in the wake of anti-military protests which were not covered on state media, iTV with more than 1,000 staff members, has a heritage of wider-and-deeper coverage of news and controversy than previously existing media, but the station, later came under the control of now ousted premierThaksin Shinawatra.

iTV, part of the former prime minister's family sale of Shin Corp shares to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, has in recent years been more entertainment-oriented, but in December was ordered to broadcast more news and public affairs content. (TNA)-E006

ETNA March 6, 2007
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iTV to continue broadcast after midnight of Wednesday : PM

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont ordered on Wednesday for iTV to continue broadcast their programme after midnight of Wednesday.

The iTV was initially scheduled to go off their broadcast after midnight of Wednesday after Council of State ruled that Public Relations Department could run the station after its contract with PM's Office was terminated on Tuesday.

Chulayuth quoted Surayud as saying that there would not be shutting down of the iTV programmes.

The Public Relations Department (PRD) vows not to interfere in editorial independence and programming of iTV after it steps in to manage the beleaguered station.

PRD director general Pramoj Rathanavinij gave the assurance Wednesday after the Council of State Wednesday ruled the PRD should be able to operate the iTV station.

The station has to come under the PM's Office, which oversees the PRD, following the station's failure to pay more than Bt100billion in concession fees and fines.

Meechai Ruchuphan, who chairs a panel of the Council of State, said his agency was going to inform the PM's Office of the legal interpretation of the case Wednesday afternoon.

The embattled iTV station will go off when Wednesday passed by.

PM's Office, which took back the station from the private concessionaire, Tuesday asked the Council of State to determine whether it could assign PRD to operate the station.

PRD said it would ask a budget of Bt90 million to operate iTV.

The Nation