A Thai administrative court judge has said that a rule forcing pay-television broadcasters to allow all matches during the 2014 Fifa World Cup national team football tournament to be shown on free-to-air television should be revoked.
The Bangkok Post newspaper said that although the judge’s opinion is not a final ruling, the court usually follows the recommendation.
The so-called ‘must carry’ rule was implemented by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, the country’s media regulator.
The judge said that if the regulator believed that the tournament should be accessible to everyone, then the state should have acquired the media rights instead of forcing a private operator to open up its coverage to free-to-air broadcasters.
The announcement follows a case brought forward by RS International, a subsidiary of Taiwanese music and entertainment firm RS, which holds the country’s broadcast rights to the tournament. RS argued that the ‘must carry’ rule proposed by the NBTC would damage its business.