Thailand's military government takes over TV station

Thailand's government took over the country's only independent television station yesterday and said it would be temporarily pulled off the air after it failed to pay unpaid license fees.

The takeover was expected after the government announced last week it would terminate iTV's license yesterday -- the deadline for paying nearly 100 billion baht (US$2.9 billion) in fines, unpaid broadcasting license fees and interest.

Dhipavadee Meksawan, a minister in the prime minister's office, told reporters the station would be shut starting today but could resume broadcasts as early as Friday if government legal experts could resolve legal issues for the transition to new ownership.

ITV which stands for Independent TV -- was once controlled by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup last September. The military replaced Thaksin with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who initially pledged that iTV would continue broadcasting without interruption despite the expected government takeover.

"My intention is to have free media but if it has legal ramifications then we'll have to do what's right," he told reporters.

The network is part of Thaksin's former telecommunications empire, Shin Corp, which was sold to the Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings, in January last year.

The Thai government is investigating several aspects of the Shin Corp deal, which was at the center of a political crisis that led to Thaksin's ouster. The deal drew widespread protests, with critics saying it was structured to avoid taxes and that it placed strategic assets -- such as communications satellites owned by subsidiary Shin Satellites -- in the hands of foreigners.

The government's case against iTV dates back to 2002 and is separate from the Shin Corp scandal. But the decision yesterday is, nonetheless, another setback to Shin's image.

ITV set up in 1992 in the aftermath of bloody pro-democracy street protests, as part of a broad movement to report news impartially. All television stations until then were owned by the military or the government and had been restricted from broadcasting the 1992 protests that overthrew Thailand's then-military-backed government.

After Shin Corp took over iTV in 2001, the network drew criticism for lacking impartiality, particularly in its coverage of Thaksin's administration.