Thai Broadcaster Has 45 Days to Pay $2.8 Billion Fine

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE, December 14: Thai commercial broadcaster
ITV is facing bankruptcy after losing a battle with the government that will
see it having to cough up 97 billion baht ($2.8 billion) in retroactive fees
and fines within 45 days.

The ten-year-old network was accused of breaching its
television license by emphasizing entertainment content over news. The whopping
fine is the latest blow against deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra, whose
family-owned Shin Corp. bought a controlling stake in ITV in 2001. This year,
Shinawatra’s family sold a controlling stake in Shin Corp. to Singapore’s
Temasek Holdings for $2.1 billion, setting off street protests that culminated
in the PM’s ouster in September.

Meanwhile, a Reuters report out of Bangkok notes that
Thailand’s new coup leaders may save the broadcaster from bankruptcy and turn
it into a dedicated, unbiased news channel. Since being acquired by Shin in
2001, ITV was perceived by many critics as a PR machine for Shinawatra.
Thailand’s Air Force Chief Chalit Phukphasusk, one of the leaders of the coup
that ousted Shinawatra, told Reuters: "Personally I'd like to see ITV
become another BBC. I want to see ITV as Thailand's best news organization and
not belonging to any particular group or family.” He added, "ITV won't
disappear from Thailand because it is a very useful organization. We won't make
a thousand ITV staff jobless.”