In recent years, the Thai government encouraged the diffusion of broadband technology and the deployment of the
triple-play network nationwide. This may improve the low penetration of Internet broadband and give IPTV services better
chances to increase Thai viewership. As the majority of the IPTV operators are telcos, their services have problems in aggregating
compelling content as cable and satellite TV operators control the supply of premium programming. However, the
cable TV operator, CTH, under a triple-play business model, has challenged the incumbent IPTV operators in the telecommunication
industry. After examining the socio-technical forces, this study finds that IPTV development in Thailand has a much
stronger industry/market power than government/policy intervention.
In comparison, mobile TV in Thailand is still in its infancy. Only one mobile cellular TV service is available with a smaller
size of subscribers, while mobile broadcasting TV trials have not finalized the standard setting yet. Since mobile penetration
in Thailand is much higher than the Internet’s, mobile broadcasting TV which has the advantage to reach geographically
extensive areas and a big population at relatively economical cost and still has potential to become prevalent in the long
run. However, multiple technological standards (technology subsystem) and less decisive policy decision (government/
policy subsystem) delay the development of mobile broadcasting TV in Thailand despite industry players’ (MCOT) effort
in trials to test technological feasibility and market responses.
After the NBTC announced the DTV roadmap and completed 2.1 GHz spectrum auction, the broadcasters were encouraged
to push innovative TV services, which is likely to accelerate the development of Thailand’s multi-screen TV services. Also, the
related authorities, the NBTC and the Ministry of ICT, tried to clarify their regulatory scopes of supervising the new TV-like
services on Internet and mobile. After the digital migration, the NBTC will shift its attention to regulating the convergent
cross-platform audiovisual media. The vice chairman of the NBTC, Sukonrat (personal communication, March 9, 2012)
indicated:
After digital broadcasting switch on, the NBTC predicts that TV services will go multi-screen including mobile TV, IPTV, and
Interactive TV. The NBTC definitely supports these kinds of innovative TV businesses to enhance the consumer choices of TV
services and fosters economic growth, while NBTC has to regulate these new services by law to protect public interest. We will
separate the regulations between platforms and audiovisual contents and still enforce some basic rules of content regulation
such as protection of minors.