A Guide to Managing Public Policy under Legal Framework: Case Studies of Thailand’s Must Carry and Must Have Rule

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of public policy management under legal framework and selects Thailand’s Must Carry and Must Have rule as case studies. The “Must Carry” and the “Must Have” lay down the fundamental regulations for regulating Thailand’s broadcasting under the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and is designed based on modern concept to guarantee the rights of people for accessing public goods (broadcasting services) as well as to allow the private sectors to properly operate broadcasting and content businesses. The rationale of the NBTC towards Must Carry and Must Have rule not only follows the principle of law but also adopts law and economics approach for analyzing the necessities and the costs arising from the rules. The NBTC also studies international experiences as guidelines and carefully adopts them based on country’s environment and structure of television’s industry.

In order to benefit other administrative agencies in implementing the similar rule and regulation in the future, this article will deeply analyze concept and rationale of the Must Carry and Must Have rule and then make a comparison with international cases and experiences. The article will also provide an analysis of courts’ judgments towards the disputes and compare them with the judgments, ruling in other countries.