The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the ruling of the Administrative Court today, dismissing the lawsuit, filed by the secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Office, demanding 2.8 billion baht in unpaid concession fees from the iTV Public Company, a unit of Shin Corp, as part of their joint agreement to operate a television station using the UHF spectrum.
The Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling effectively puts an end to the iTV concession fees saga, which has dragged on since 2007 and through several administrations.
The dispute was first raised, by the secretariat of the PM’s Office, with an arbitration panel, as agreed in the contract. The panel ruled in 2016 that iTV did not owe any unpaid concession fees. The case was eventually taken to the Administrative Court by the PM’s Office’s secretariat, but the court rejected its demand for unpaid fees. The ruling was subsequently appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which gave its final ruling today.
The PM’s Office granted a 30-year concession to iTV Plc on July 3rd, 1995 to operate a free-to-air national TV station. After a lengthy dispute between the two parties over the concession fees, the Public Relations Department took over the station in 2007, after the cabinet revoked the concession.
After its name was changed to Thailand Independent Television, it closed in January 2008. The channel’s frequency was reassigned to Thai PBS, in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Service Act B.E. 2551 (2008)
