| 1995 |
Siam TV & Communications Company Consortium, under the leadership of Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited ("the Bank"), was awarded an operational concession of a new UHF television station, by the Office . The consortium thereby formed Siam Infotainment Company Limited to assume the concession on July 3rd, 1995. |
1996
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The new UHF television station was completed and its official broadcast first began on July 1st, 1996 . |
| 1998 |
The Company had 36 relay broadcast stations. On October 20th, 1998, in order to comply with required concession conditions, it transformed itself into a public company status, and changed its name to " ITV Public Company Limited ". |
| 1999 |
A 1,000 kilowatt master station, with a coverage radius of 100 kilometers, was erected at the top of Bai Yok Tower 2. Its broadcast coverage covers Greater Bangkok and the surrounding vicinity, as well as other central region provinces. |
| 2000 |
The Cabinet approved a concession amendment on the restrictions on the Company's share transfer, to be in compliance with the Public Companies Act and the Stock Exchange of Thailand's regulations. An amended contract was then issued and signed by the counterparts regarding restrictions on share transfer and an extension on the payment schedule for the first concessionary remuneration payment.
By the end of June 2000, the Company restructured its debt and equity structures with a Baht 550 million new capital injection made by the Bank and Shin Corporation Plc. ("Shin Corp"), bringing the amount of total paid-up capital to Baht 1,550 million. A capital reduction was made to write off the accumulated loss and hence the paid-up capital was reduced to Baht 387.5 million. Registered capital was then increased to Baht 4,500 million with a Baht 4,250 million in total paid-up capital. Following the above equity restructuring, the Bank and Shin Corp., as major shareholders, assigned their representatives to sit on the Company's Board of Directors. This year, the Company included 4 more relay broadcast stations to its network operation, totalling 40 relay broadcast stations with a viewer coverage ratio of 97% of total national inhabitants. On September 1st, 2000, 24 hour broadcasting was also implemented. |
| 2001 |
On November 13th, 2001, changes were made in the Company's shareholding structure caused by a purchase of 106,250,000 additional ordinary shares by Shin Corp. from the Bank at the price of Baht 10.6573 per share, and a public tender offering to purchased the company's shares held by all other shareholders at the same price. Shin Corp. thereby became the largest shareholder of the Company. Nevertheless, the Company's management remained under the previous management team. By a resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders No. 1/2001, the Company's par value was reduced to Baht 5.- from Baht 10.-which in turn increased the number of the Company's registered shares to 1,200 million shares of which 850 million shares were issued and paid-up. |
| 2002 |
From February 27th, 2002 to March 1st, 2002 the Company launched an Initial Public Offering of its 300 million shares at the Baht 6 per share offering price. On March 7th 2002, the Company increased its issued and paid-up capital to Baht 5,750 million and listed its shares for public trading in the Stock Exchange of Thailand on March 13th, 2002.
On August 6th, 2002 the Company's Board of Directors approved the set-up of a new subsidiary named the Artware Media Company Limited to engage in activities such as leasing of production equipment for television programs, production of television programs, buying/selling of program rights, market event organizing, etc. This company, of which 99.93% of the shares are held by the Company, had an initial registered capital of Baht 1 million, with 10,000 common shares issued at Baht 100 par value. |
2003 : To meet the increasing demand of office/studio space required for program productions, on February 1st, 2003, the Company relocated to its new office in Shinawatra Tower 3, which served as an expansion of the business as well as increasing in-house production programs.
On January 16th, 2003, the Company's Board of Directors approved the Company's participation in the capital increase for Artware Media Co., Ltd. from its initial Baht 1 million to Baht 20 million or 200,000 common shares , to support future business expansions. The Company remains the major shareholder of the Artware Media Co., Ltd. with 99.99% ownership therein.
On February 26th, 2003, the Company's Board of Directors approved an issuance of 60 million common shares at Baht 5 par value, totaling to Baht 300 million. The issues were used to support the employee stock option plan (ESOP) grants to directors, staff and advisors. The registered capital of the company thus increased from 1,200 million common shares, valued at Baht 6,000 million to 1,260 million common shares, valued at Baht 6,300 million.
2004 : On December 26th, 2003 the Company's Board of Directors approved an increase of registered capital to Baht 7,800 million, numbering 1,560 common share at Baht 5 par value. 300 million new common shares, which accounted for Baht 1,500 million, were issued and offered to Mr. Tripop Limpapath and Kantana Group Public Co., Ltd. for participation on a private placement basis. The decision was endorsed by the resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders No. 1/2004 held on January 19th, 2004. However, a completion of this share participation is subject to an agreeable outcome of the Company's due diligence results.. On January 30th, 2004 the arbitration panel issued its adjudication that :
- The Office shall pay a compensation of Baht 20 million to the Company .
- The annual concession fee is reduced to Baht 230 million and the minimum guaranteed return payable has dropped to 6.5% of gross earnings (i.e. before expenses and taxes ). From July 3rd, 2002 onward, the company is obliged, under the concession obligations, to pay either of the two amounts, whichever is the higher.
- The Office shall make a Baht 570 million compensation to the Company. This compensation represents a partial refund of the Baht 800 million prior paid on July 3rd 2003. as an annual required minimum guaranteed payment.
- The Company can freely broadcast its prime time programs during 7.00 p.m. - 9.30 p.m. without any restriction on program nature. Prior to this adjudications the Company was permitted to air only news, documentaries and socially beneficial programs during this time period. However 50% of total airtime programming must be assigned to news, documentaries and socially beneficial programs, which is a rule applied by the government to all television stations.
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