The source said the telecom watchdog commissioners agreed that the SAT had violated the conditions regarding broadcast of the World Cup being held in Qatar since November. Under the NBTC’s ‘must-have’ rule, several key sporting events, including the Fifa World Cup finals, must be made available on free television. Thailand’s plan to acquire the World Cup broadcasting rights had a troubled start, as the NBTC’s contribution was not enough to purchase the broadcast rights, which was priced at 1.4 billion baht. This forced the SAT, an agency responsible for purchasing the broadcast rights of sporting events, to enter into a deal with telecom company True Corporation for funding support. Under the contract, True contributed 300 million baht to the SAT in exchange for exclusive rights to broadcast 32 matches on its ITPV and online platform, while leaving terrestrial TV broadcasting free for other channels.
