"This court's primary duty is to dispense justice and disputed parties should not try to sway the ruling or make hasty criticism in advance," judge Charan Hatthakam said in the final session of the appellate review.

At the centre of the litigation is a contractual clause - Article 5, paragraph 4 - that empowers the station to seek mediation by a board of three arbitrators to revise its concession fees if authorities allowed advertising to be broadcast on cable television.

Based on this clause, the arbitration ruling gave the green light for the station to pay reduced fees and revise programming content to favour entertainment at the expense of news coverage.

The Office of Permanent Secretary for Prime Minister's Office, the regulatory body for iTV's broadcast contract, petitioned the Central Administrative Court to overturn the ruling.

The lower court ruled last year in favour of the regulatory body and ordered the station to pay full fees and restore its original programming format.

The regulatory body subsequently ruled to impose the fine for delayed and partial payments made since the arbitration ruling.

The station appealed the lower court's decision and postponed any fee adjustments pending the outcome of the appellate review.

In his closing statement to the high court, defence lawyer Praman Ruangwatanawanit said the station did not manipulate the contract because the clause in question was inserted by the Office of the AttorneyGeneral when scrutinising the draft contract.

Praman said the station had sought and received the arbitration in good faith.

He went on to state that the regulatory body had complied with the enforcement of the clause six times since 1999.

Speaking after the court session, station manager Niwatthamrong Boonsongpisal said the fine would force him out of business.

The Nation