Regulation on Market Access of Television Services over the Digital Platform in Thailand

Abstract

 The development of broadcasting technology that has continued until now has caused a phenomenon called "Technology Convergence" which has greatly influenced the television industry because it combines the capabilities of technology to deliver content. Therefore, Audiovisual services in the television business can be disseminated to a variety of devices and networks (platforms).

The development of broadcasting technology has led to the rapid growth of OTT television services, it has been found that Thai OTT television service providers and foreign OTT service providers have continuously entered the market. This has affected Thai traditional television operators and caused law enforcement inequalities between traditional television operators and OTT Television service providers. Considering the current legislation, it was found that market entry is a major obstacle to the regulation of television services through digital platforms in Thailand and a problem that occurs in all countries. This is because the government fears that domestic entrepreneurs will be at a disadvantage or receive fewer benefits from trade competition than foreign entrepreneurs. Therefore, laws have been enacted to protect internal operators to maintain their advantage.

As well as reasons for the security and conservation of spectrum resources for the benefit of the people of the country. For this reason, an important legal provision affecting the entry into the domestic television service market is to determine the proportion of nationality of domestic television service providers that do not support the development of technology, resulting in the current legal provisions being unenforceable. It also affects competition in the domestic television service market and the potential of Thai television service providers in the international market.

This study aims to conduct a comparative study of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Singapore, and Thailand’s legal provisions. The International Agreement on the proportion of Nationality of Television service providers for the Revision of Legal Provisions Related Issues and the Determination of Incentives for Television Service Providers through Digital Platforms to enter the market for leading to appropriate legal guidelines or mechanisms to balance the supervision of the public interest and the protection of the interests of domestic television operators.