MCOT’s profit rise by 30% in 3rd quarter

BANGKOK, November 15 (TNA) - Profit of MCOT Public Company Limited (MCOT), a most established Thai media firm, soared by 30 per cent in the third quarter of this year alone, thanks mainly to its revenues from television and radio services. New MCOT President Anek Permwongseni reported on Thursday that MCOT's profit in the third quarter of this year amounted to 481 million baht, a 30 per cent year-on-year-surge, resulting in MCOT's net profit in the first nine months of this year standing at 1.28 billion baht, a 3 per cent year-on-year increase. Anek acknowledged that the higher profit mainly resulted from revenues from television operations, which rose by 24 per cent, because of MCOT programs, advertisements from the government and the private sector and the live broadcasting of the recent Olympic Games; while revenues from radio operations increased by eight per cent in the third quarter because of joint services with regional radio stations and events relating to its FM 95, FM 97.5 and FM 107 stations. According to the MCOT new top executive, MCOT plans to bid for digital television licenses and the company is, in the meantime, preparing its personnel, technologies and programming to introduce digital television to reach as many viewers as possible. MCOT will, meanwhile, cooperate with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to test run digital broadcasting to introduce programs with higher resolution next month. (TNA)