Thai TV Co has until June 15 to pay its overdue second instalment of auction fees and 2% annual fee after the broadcasting regulator extended the deadline.
The company, which operates two digital TV channels, missed the second instalment of auction fees worth 288 million baht due on May 25.
Earlier this week it failed to pay the 2% annual fee to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
So far, Thai TV Co is the only operator that has failed to pay both auction and annual fees, the latter calculated from its income.
The company operates Loca children's and Thai TV news channels.
The company had sent letters to the NBTC making clear its strong intention to return the two licences and quit the digital TV business.
Sombat Leelapata, the NBTC's acting deputy secretary-general, said the broadcasting panel made a resolution yesterday that Thai TV Co still has to pay the fees even it wanted to return the two licences by June 15.
The NBTC said it sent an official letter last Friday to Thai TV Co reminding it to pay the overdue fees by the deadline.
The broadcasting panel also demanded that the company submit a rehabilitation plan for TV viewers within seven days if it wanted to return the two licences.
However, the NBTC said it would not consider Thai TV's request to return its two channel licences until the company pays the overdue fees and propose the rehabilitation plan.
Mr Sombat said if Thai TV failed to pay the fees by June 15, the NBTC would seize the 1.6-billion-baht guarantee letter issued by Bangkok Bank within 30 days. The company will be charged 7.5% interest per year.
Meanwhile, Suchart Chomkul, a lawyer at Thai TV, said the company was working on a business rehabilitation plan for both Loca and Thai TV channels and expects to submit it to the NBTC within this week.
The company faces a 300-million-baht loss from running the two digital TV channels.
"In my opinion, the NBTC should give Thai TV a chance to negotiate before returning the two licences. The regulator should have some measures to help operators survive in the first few years of operation," he said.
Thai TV's president Pantipa Sakulchai had said she would quit the digital TV business and no longer pay the licence fee.
She alleged that her digital TV operations had been affected by the regulator's failure to facilitate a smooth digital transition.
The company's two channels and the 22 other digital channels had low viewership due to delays in subsidy coupon distribution, slow network expansion and confusion over rules and regulations.