Part of a series on the
Culture of Thailand
Society
People Thais History Languages Religion Education Folklore Holidays Women
Cuisine
Thai cuisine Curry Desserts Salads Street food Ingredients Dishes
Art & Literature
Architecture Thai art Costume Dance Music Painting Thai literature Poetry Comics
Media
Newspapers Radio Television Cinema
Others
Politics Sports Names Time Lunar Solar
Symbols
Symbols Animal Aquatic Bird Mythological creature Anthem Architecture Deity Emblem Flag Flower World Heritage Sites
Thailand portal

In Thailand, television broadcasting started on 24 June, 1955 (in NTSC).^[1]Color telecasts (PAL, System B/G 625 lines) were started in 1967, and full-time color transmissions were launched in 1975. As of November 2020, there are currently 21 digital (DVB-T2) TV channels in Thailand.

History

Television was first officially introduced to Thailand on 24 June 1955 in NTSC.^[1] One of the first broadcasters of television were the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand, which was established on 10 November 1952. In the first few years, viewership was low before gradually climbing to 2000 in 1957. Later on in 1955, the Radio Communications Act, B.E. 2498 was passed.^[2] Colour telecast then started in 1967 before in 1975 full-time colour transmissions began.

Television providers

Subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the program guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across Thailand. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive these services.

Analog terrestrial television

This is currently the traditional way of receiving television in Thailand, however it has now largely been supplanted by digital providers. There are 6 channels; three of them are government public-owned by MCOT the 2 television channels terrestrial free-to-air Modernine TV and Channel 3; Channel 5 and BBTV Channel 7 are owned by Royal Thai Army; NBT and Thai PBS are fully government-owned. Analog terrestrial transmissions were scheduled to be switched off in phases as part of the digital switchover, which was expected to be completed in 2020 in line with ASEAN recommendations, however, the changeover has yet to come into effect.

Provincial television was discontinued in 1988, replaced by NBT, which has two hours of local programming in each of the provinces.

Digital terrestrial television

In 2005, the Ministry of Information announced their plan to digitalize nationwide free-to-air TV broadcasts led by MCOT. Trial broadcasts were undertaken, involving one thousand households in Bangkok from December 2000 till May 2001. In December 2013, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) set up series of auction for DTTV. Four types of licenses are offered: High-Def. channel license, Standard-Def. channel license, News channel license and Youth/Family channel license. All the major operators and content owners in the industry won the bid for new licenses e.g. BEC World, Bangkok Broadcasting & T.V., GMM Grammy, Thairath Newspaper, Nation Multimedia Group, TrueVisions etc. According to the license condition, DTTV services launched since April 2014.

Cable television

All national cable TVs in Thailand must accept by MCOT, The first provider is International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) in 1989, next one is Thai Sky TV in 1991 (but off-air in 1997). Universal Television Cable Network (UTV) is the third provider in 1993. But after Asian financial crisis, UTV merged with IBC in 1998, changed its name to United Broadcasting Corporation or UBC (TrueVisions in present) and became a monopoly provider.

IP television (IPTV)

In contrast to Internet TV, IPTV refers to services operated and controlled by a single company, who may also control the 'Final Mile' to the consumers' premises.

Mobile television

True Move provide mobile television services for reception on third generation mobile phones. They consist of a mixture of regular channels as well as made for mobile channels with looped content. True Move H TV now offers more than 20 channels to True-H 3G subscribers who own compatible mobile phones. Yet, True is expected to roll out broadcast mobile TV services based on DVB-H in the near future.

Popularity of terrestrial TV stations

The audience share achieved by each terrestrial channel in Thailand is shown in the first table below. The second table shows the share each channel receives of total TV advertising spending. Channel 7 is both the most popular and most commercially successful station with just under 50% of the total audience followed by Channel 3 at just under 30%. The other terrestrial stations share the remaining 20% of the TV audience between them.^[13]

Audience Share:^[13]

Market Share - Share of total TV advertising spending:^[13]

Audience Share (2022):

See also

• List of television stations in Thailand
• Media of Thailand

References