Legal Problems of Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS)

Abstract

The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) is the first public service broadcasting organization in Thailand. Established under the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, B.E. 2551 (2008), Thai PBS is designated as a juristic person with the status of a state agency that is neither a government department nor a state enterprise under the law governing budget procedures. The organization operates with its own capital, assets, and revenue.
Thai PBS receives an earmarked organizational contribution funded by taxpayers under the liquor and tobacco laws at the rate of 1.5 percent of the total tax on liquor and tobacco, with a cap of 2 billion Baht per annum. The organization’s objectives are to operate radio and television broadcasting services and to produce content focused on information, public utility, education, and entertainment. A core mandate is to operate without political bias or commercial interests.
Although the designation of Thai PBS as a “state agency that is not a government department or state enterprise” appears similar to the terminology used for ‘Public Organizations’—a new category of state agency that emerged concretely following the Public Organizations Act, B.E. 2542 (1999)—Thai PBS possesses distinct characteristics. It differs from other public organizations in terms of its mission of providing services directly to the general public, its administrative structure, its funding sources, and its independence from state supervision.

Furthermore, apart from Thai PBS, there are numerous state agencies whose legal status cannot be clearly identified because the academic classification of state agencies within the Thai legal system stagnated following the enactment of the Public Organizations Act, B.E. 2542, despite the subsequent emergence of various new forms of state agencies that cannot be adequately classified within the existing legal framework.
This article examines the legal status of Thai PBS and the multifaceted problems arising from its statutory establishment and the inability to categorize its specific organizational type within the Thai legal system. Through a comparative study with international public service broadcasting organizations, the research highlights certain elements of Thai PBS that are inconsistent with the characteristics of a genuine public service broadcasting organization. These findings lead to recommendations for amending the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, B.E. 2551.