The three-day sale of bidding documents for digital-TV auctions was overwhelming, with 49 envelopes purchased by 33 companies, says the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
But Col Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the NBTC's broadcasting committee, said the auctions may not go ahead as planned in mid-December, depending on the number of actual bidders.
Thirty-three companies bought 49 sets of bidding documents for the digital-TV licence auction during the three-day period ended yesterday.
Most of the firms are current players in telecommunications and the terrestrial- and satellite-TV business. Among the surprises were PM Group and 411 Entertainment _ both owned by the Mahagitsiri family, which has political ties to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The application period will be Oct 28-29, with qualified bidders to be named within 45 days. An auction for digital-TV licences is scheduled for December.
The reserve prices for licences have been set at 140 million baht for a children's channel, 220 million baht for a news channel, 380 million baht for a standard-definition (SD) variety channel and 1.51 billion baht for a high-definition (HD) variety channel.
The auction will be an ascending-bid type.
Bids for children's and news channels increase in 2-million-baht increments, while bids for SD variety and HD variety channels rise in 5- and 10-million-baht increments, respectively.
Each participant is allowed to buy up to three licences in each category.
The NBTC has slots for three children's channels and seven each for news, SD variety and HD variety channels.
An industry observer said Chan 25 and BBTV could face legal challenges as Surang Prempree, owner of Chan 25, owns 21% of BBTV. Both bought documents for an HD variety channel.
One rule prohibits related parties or entities with cross-holdings from submitting multiple bids in the same category. A legal team from Chan 25 plans to settle the issue with BBTV before the auction date.
Suwit Mingmol, the acting president of MCOT's labour union, yesterday said his group is considering suing the NBTC over the digital-TV auctions.
UNI Apro MEI, an 18-country labour body, also supports the state enterprise's union in calling on the NBTC to review regulations and bidding laws.