The National Communications Commission (NCC) is planning to amend the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法), which would require the commission to issue operational licenses for radio and television through a panel review or public bidding.
The Broadcasting and Television act regulates the operation of the terrestrial television and radio services. NCC acting spokesperson Hsieh Chin-nan (謝進男) said the current Act only authorizes authorities to review applications from radio and television service providers and decide on their approval.
“We added the new clause in article 10 of the Act because the Control Yuan said in 2002 that the way we had been issuing operational licenses for radios and television was flawed,” Hsieh said.
He added the commission would stipulate separate regulations on how the auction and bidding should be carried out.
Kao Fu-yao (高福堯), director of the NCC’s legal department, said that currently, operators have to renew their licenses every six years but that the NCC is considering extending that time.
Hsieh added the NCC is planning to amend Article 45 that authorizes it to penalize radio and television stations that have only obtained construction permits but start operating without securing an operational licenses.
The article will also set stronger penalties for illegal radio stations, he said, adding that the government would confiscate equipment and issue fines of between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000. Registered owners of illegal radio stations could face up to two years in prison or penalties of between NT$1 million and NT$5 million, he said.
The amendment will be used to govern the distribution of new radio operational licenses with its exact wording expected to be finalized next week.
The NCC also said yesterday that it would soon establish minimum signal processing speeds for different Internet services as a way to resolve disputes between consumers and service providers.
Hsieh said factors influencing the processing speeds of Internet services vary.
“When four people share the bandwidth, the processing speed will not be the same as that when you have 10 people using the bandwidth,” Hsieh said.
He said the NCC would strive to establish reasonable minimum processing speeds for different types of Internet services so that customers could use them as a reference when evaluating the quality of the service they subscribe to.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS