... New drama production spend in Thailand. (Asia's television industry is talking about ...).(Independent TV increases spending on entertainment and drama programs)(Brief Article)

Television Asia, December, 2002

Thai free-TV station, Independent TV (ITV), will increase spending on entertainment/drama programmes by more than US$580,00 as part of efforts to enhance the quality of its drama. The announcement of the decision, which was part of iTV's Q3 income report, come a week after ITV said it would upgrade its news format because of increasing competition.

ITV, bound by its government concession to focus on news and infotainment with a small amount of entertainment, reported a loss of US$12.4 million for the nine months ended September, from US$17.7 million for the same period last year. Ad income in third quarter 2002 fell by 26 percent to US$5.79 million from the second quarter's US$7.76 million, but was up from the US$3.60 million reported for third quarter 2001.