Digital TV: New landscape for Thai broadcasting industry

Broadcasting industry in Thailand is considered oligopoly due to its six free TV operators dominates the industry. The six free TV operators earned advertisement income more than 3.06 billion US dollars in 2013, and the number is expected to reach 6.2 billion US dollars in the next five years. Recently, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBCT) - the independent ICT regulatory body of Thailand, began to auction out operating licence for the new digital TV campaign that is based on DVB-T2 technology (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial version 2). Thailand´s broadcast will be transformed into the new era through the newly established industry structure that has 3 layers that are consisted of network provider, service provider and content provider. The forthcoming digital TV campaign will be diversified and opened itself to business opportunities for small and medium-sized operators. It will enhance content development and consumers will get a variety of content from the six existing free TV stations and newly added 48digital TV channels. This change will draw added investment of 3.06 billion US dollars via networks, set-top boxes, content and channel operation. Also, it will offer an opportunity for satellite TV equipment manufacturing industry to surge. This occurrence will be considered as the second major change in Thai broadcasting industry. The first took place four decades ago when black-and-white TV was converted to colour one. This paper first introduces the existing broadcasting scenario in Thailand, then it investigates the new landscape, especially terrestrial TV, with its inherent opportunities as well as threats. Finally, the author proposes implications and recommendations for digital TV arrival.