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.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS