The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will pressure all digital, cable and satellite-television TV providers to adhere to its numbering rule and align their first 36 channels.
The NBTC's announcement came after the Central Administrative Court on Tuesday night dismissed a request by pay-TV operator TrueVisions for an injunction blocking implementation of the new numbering system.
The court decision legitimised the channel-numbering rule. If any operator does not change its system by Dec 2, it will be warned and then fined between 20,000 and 5 million baht a day, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said on Thursday (Dec 3).
"After the warning and fines, those who do not follow the rule will get their licences suspended and finally revoked," he added.
However, local TV operators who broadcast a limited number of channels are exempted from the numbering requirement.
TrueVisions is still refusing to alter its lineup and plans to petition the Supreme Administrative Court. Its executives could not be reached for comment.
Mr Takorn said the NBTC already has sent a formal letter to inform TrueVisions to change its channel numbering immediately.
The Central Administrative Court said the injunction request was dropped because it saw the public interest outweighed the company's concerns. However, it accepted TrueVisions' lawsuit into the hearing process.
TrueVisions filed the lawsuit against the NBTC on Nov 30, saying the rule would confuse subscribers about channel numbers.
But the NBTC said this new rule would reduce public confusion over channel numbers viewed on different platforms. Moreover, it will support the country's digital-TV transition.
The channel numbering rule requires all TV operators of digital, cable and satellite networks have the same first 36 channels.
The first 12 channels are for public TV, 13-15 for children's channels, 16-22 for news, 23-29 for variety in standard-definition, and 30-36 for variety in high-definition.
Before the rule took effect on Dec 2, operators were allowed to freely arrange the first 10 channels.