World Cup broadcasting soap opera drama rumbles on
The FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar broadcasting soap opera continues to provide drama. In this week’s episode, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is demanding the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) return the 600 million baht it handed over because it can’t fulfil its World Cup broadcasting agreement.
The long-drawn-out melodrama appeared to have reached a conclusion when Thailand managed to cobble together the 1.4 billion baht asking fee from FIFA to screen the games but no, the saga continues to provide one cliffhanger after another.
The NBTC sent a letter to SAT on Wednesday underlining that the SAT has not honoured the agreement it signed to provide all broadcasters with equal broadcasting rights under their regulation.
The NBTC gave the SAT 600 million baht when they signed the agreement on Wednesday, November 9.
The NBTC is concerned that True Corporation, which contributed about 300 million baht for the broadcasting rights, has asked the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court to suspend the right for Internet Protocol Television to broadcast the matches.
The NBTC is reportedly blaming the SAT for the situation.
SAT governor Kongsak Yodmanee said he is confused by NBTC’s reaction, adding they need to wait for the court’s ruling before it can do anything about the matter. He expects to have the judgement early next week.
Kongsak said the SAT strictly followed NBTC rules and questioned whether forfeiting the 600 million baht is practical or legitimate.
The 49 year old made known that allowing World Cup broadcasting signals to be transmitted through various broadcasting platforms has upset FIFA because it has opened it up to abuse. Kongsak said the decision has made it very difficult to prevent unauthorised access to the broadcasts in neighbouring countries.
“The SAT has been receiving warnings from FIFA nearly every single day about these ongoing violations of the agreement signed by the two parties. And if this problem isn’t taken care of properly, it will be highly likely that FIFA will suspend the broadcasting signals.”
In next week’s episode, FIFA suspends the World Cup because Thai monkeys found watching the tournament through an illegal stream, probably.
