The live broadcast of World Cup matches is in line with the NCPO's policy to "return happiness to the public"
All 64 World Cup matches can be watched through four free TV channels on every system — the Royal Army-owned TV Channel 5, BBTV’s Channel 7, RS’s Channel 8 and Channel 11.
For football fans who want to watch more than the kick-off, they can access pre-competition, rerun matches, sport training and exclusive programmes directly from the Fifa feed
feed
Meaning: information or programmes that are sent from a central station to other stations in a network; the system of sending out this information or programmes
Thai Translation:
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, which is being aired for the first time in Thailand on RS’s World Cup Channel.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has just reported that its commissioners have voted 6-1 to use 427 million baht from the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research Development Fund for the Public Interest (BTFP) to pay RS PLC for the right to broadcast all 64 World Cup matches on free TV.
The Supreme Administrative Court has just ruled in RS Plc's favour in a case where the telecom regulator tried to force RS to broadcast all 64 World Cup 2014 matches on free TV.
This means that only 22 matches, including the opening and final ones, will be aired on Channel 7 and 8.
The remaining 20 matches to be broadcast on free TV will be at the discretion of RS but they will likely spread across all rounds.
The first three matches to be aired on free TV are: Brazil-Croatia, Mexico-Cameroon and Uruguay-Costa Rica.
Viewers seeking to watch all 64 matches will have three options.
First, they can buy the RS World Cup set-top box, costing 1,590 baht each.
Second, viewers of PSI pay-TV service can watch the matches if they buy the new PSI-O2 HD box.
Third, TrueVisions will carry the World Cup channel by RS, both in standard and high-definition resolution, for its members at no extra charge.
In the latest development, the the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said it might use the money from the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Reserve Development Fund for the Public Interest to subsidise the broadcast. A briefing will be held later today.
RS is fighting the court case in the Supreme Administrative Court with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) which wants RS to broadcast all 64 matches on free TV as required by the "must-have rule".