With the Chinese-language newspapers Apple Daily and China Times poised to branch out into the field of television, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that it would strive to prevent media enterprises from monopolizing news sources.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of Next Media, which owns the Apple Daily, said in a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal Asia that he was planning to spend US$200 million to launch two cable news channels. Last year, Want Want China Holdings Ltd chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) bought the China Times Group, which includes the China Times and Commercial Times dailies and the China Times Weekly magazine, as well as CTI TV and China Television (中視).
NCC commissioner Chung Chi-huey (鍾啟惠) said the media watchdog had taken note of the latest changes in media ownership and was particularly concerned about how the integration of print and television media might affect public opinion.
Chung said that while the NCC still had to discuss the issue and had not yet reviewed any specific case, the commission plans to scrutinize media ownership and its impact on society to help it deal with cases that might arise this year.
She said that although the US Federal Communications Commission lifted the nation’s ban on media integration 12 years ago, it has since ruled on some large cases, including the merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2000.
Some level of regulation was necessary, Chung said.
“How the technology of digital convergence is used should be examined in the social and historical contexts of the nation,” she said at a press conference yesterday on the amendment of the Satellite Radio and Television Act (衛星廣播電視法).
Commissioner Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said that while the NCC had considered issues related to the integration of media ownership when it was working on amendments to the Satellite Radio and Television Act, it was such an involved issue that the commission had been unable to include the relevant regulations in the current amendment.
Weng said media ownership regulations may be added in a future second amendment to the Satellite Radio and Television Act, and would be included in the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法), which is in the process of being amended.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
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