Digital TV operators cry foul over “unfair” World Cup broadcast rights allocation

Digital television operators submitted a petition to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) today (Monday), demanding equal World Cup 2022 broadcast rights for all terrestrial transmission platforms, including digital terrestrial television broadcast.
The petition, from the Association of Digital Television Broadcasting (Thailand), follows complaints from many soccer fans, who voiced their frustrations via Facebook and Twitter, that they could not watch the soccer match last night on their IPTV, internet, mobile or OTT platforms.
Meanwhile, True Corporation, one of three sponsors, which also include Thai Beverage and PTT, said that they have contributed a total of 400 million baht for the broadcast rightsand have issued a statement about the rights pertaining to True.
The statement said that the free broadcast must not infringe on the company’s rights, citing the “Must Have” and “Must Carry” rule of the NBTC, stating that the free broadcast rights are intended only for satellite and cable transmission platforms and not IPTV, internet, mobile or OTT platforms.
The World Cup 2022 broadcast rights are allocated to all free TV channels on rotation basis, with the first match between Qatar and Ecuador being broadcast by True.