Music Licensing and Euro 2008 Broadcast Licenses discussed in Meeting.

At the Alcazar Theater in North Pattaya, a meeting took place to discuss the forthcoming Euro 2008 football tournament which is set to take place this summer. The broadcasting of copyrighted music was also discussed. Police Colonel Nopadon, the Superintendant of Pattaya Police Station chaired the meeting of bar owners who were told that although games are set to be shown on free-to-air channels here in Thailand, if bars wish to show any games to members of the public, they must purchase a special copyright license which will be issued by the Thai Copyright Authorities. Delegates were also warned that if their establishment plays music, they must ensure that they have the correct music licenses. They were warned by the Colonel that there are groups of people claiming to be from record companies who are going around bars and attempting to take money for bogus licenses. Bar Owners were told to ensure they check the credentials of them first before any money is handed over. We were told by some at the meeting that they were unhappy with the license required to show Euro 2008 games and many will show the games without purchasing the license as they believe the fee of 5,000 Baht to broadcast a maximum of 50 games was not fair.

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