Spring News pledges no blackout

The financially-strapped digital broadcaster Spring News TV on Channel 19 gave an assurance today that it would continue its broadcast as normal despite the decision of by the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT) to terminate its transmission service.  The also threatened to seek legal action against MCOT.

Spring News director Ms Tunya Wong-opasi said the TV station had tried to negotiate with MCOT to settle their dispute that resulted from what she described as unfair network service rental fees, the efficiency of the service as well as the overdue payment for the transmission service. MCOT is one of the country’s major service providers for digital broadcasters.

She maintained that Spring News had asked for the extension of instalment repayments eight times and for the adjustment of service rental fees twice, but to no avail as they were all rejected by MCOT.

Even though the MCOT board has decided to terminate its network service with Spring News, she said the company did not give up its efforts to try to talk MCOT into working out a solution which is acceptable to both sides.

Ms Tunya insisted that the company had no intention to default on its rental fees payment nor to turn to another service provider “but the company merely wants fairness and the appropriate timing at a time when the broadcasting business is in the process of recovering”.

However, she said Spring News is making arrangements with a new network service provider so that it can continue its broadcasts uninterrupted.  She also said the broadcaster is seeking to lodge legal action against MCOT. 

She also said that the company had received assurance from the broadcast regulator, the National Broadcast and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), that it is coordinating with other service providers to ensure uninterrupted broadcasts.