12 May 69

"Sirikanya" worries about repeated history, buys the copyright of the "World Ball," opposes pulling the DEA-Sports Fund budget for the wrong purpose, warns the government to hurry to watch for free, be careful to lose the power of the agency-private, warns the government to prioritize, do not use money for the wrong purpose, just to create a short-term vote to please the fans.

On May 12, 2026, Ms. Sirikanya Ton Genu, the deputy leader of the People's Party, gave an interview to the case of a report that the Cabinet approved the National Broadcasting, Television and Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to buy the World Cup copyright for 1,300 million, that today the Cabinet resolution is still ambiguous about who will buy the copyright, who will pay, so it is worrying about whether history will repeat itself.

Ms. Sirikanya said that four years ago, the source of the copyright purchase came from many parts, part of which came from the Broadcasting Research and Development Fund, television and telecommunications for the public good (DEA), about half of which, if they remember correctly, and part of which came from the Sports Fund of Thailand (CAT) and the private sector, which then had two parts of the investigation.

First, the DEA fund is not intended to be used in this way. The purpose of the DEA is to use it to give vulnerable people the opportunity to access media such as low-income people or people with disabilities in different ways. The fund will help to subsidize people in this way, so there is no requirement to make the whole country watch the World Cup for free.

As for the Sports Development Fund, people may also note whether it should actually be used for the development of domestic sports rather than for the purchase of copyright, although they may say that it will inspire people who want to develop professional sports.

So the uncertainty of where the source of the money came from is worrying about whether, in the end, without a private sector, it might be the same form of subsidy.

Ms. Sirikanya said that there is a different context in this round: First, the Must Have rule, the NTC regulation, which specifies that any sports program must be broadcast for free to the public, has taken out the World Cup, so there is no longer a need to be broadcast for free.

Second, it is a private motive, for example, in the previous case, a lawsuit between True and the NCPO. When you get the right to live broadcast, you can't follow the Must Carry rule. You can't see it through all channels, all platforms. Some boxes have a black screen phenomenon, right? Or some platforms can't see it. For example, there is blocking. Because people who put money, they are motivated to profit from having invested. Therefore, it is the reason that if you really have to buy copyright, be a private person who has the motivation to be a person who puts money down rather than on the public side.

"The government's rush to say that it looks free of charge also gives the bargaining power to talk to the agent who holds the right to sell the World Cup copyright itself, or that a private who wants to compete but does not want to put all his money into the treasury may use this as a channel to demand that the government pay the contributions, because although it is not a budget to spend on solving the economic problems, in fact, the money from the fund has its purpose, and if it is not put into the fund, it should be the revenue that is put into the treasury, so it wants the government to order it. Importance in this regard. Don't spend money on the wrong purpose just to create a short-term popular vote from appeasing fans, because we don't have the intention of preventing fans from having a chance to watch the World Cup, but we want the government to use the money in a transparent, objective manner and apply it to more urgent needs, "said Ms. Sirikanya.