Suspicions have surfaced about the new qualification rules that the Ministry of Culture has set for this year’s Taipei TV Festival, with critics alleging that the regulatory overhaul is aimed at excluding the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV, 新唐人電視台) channel, which is known for its critical stance on China, from the event.
The new rules listed in the brochures advertising the festival, which is scheduled for September, stipulate that a channel must have a viewership penetration rate of at least 60 percent of all cable TV subscribers to qualify for the event.
The regulations also prohibit the participation of self-funded channels and state that all applicants will be require to submit to an appraisal, but do not elaborate on what the procedure will entail and who will be carrying it out.
Citing an incident during last year’s festival in which dozens of Chinese channels withdrew from the event to protest the participation of NTDTV, Flora Chang (張錦華), a professor at National Taiwan University, said she suspected that the rule changes were directed at the channel.
NTDTV’s outspoken stance against Chinese bureaucracy and programs about Beijing’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have irked Chinese authorities in the past.
Chang pointed to the eligibility of self-funded and non-funded channels to apply for the event in the past, adding that only a handful of non-funded channels were made to undergo a review before being admitted to the festival, whereas this year, all self-funded channels are completely shut out and all participants are subject to appraisal.
Calling the revised vetting rules “odd,” Chang said they not only undermine the visibility of Taiwanese TV channels on the global stage, but are also overkill for high-quality independent cable TV operators.
In response to the misgivings, the ministry issued a statement yesterday saying that appraisals are conducted every year and that the 60 percent viewership cap was imposed in an effort to boost the sales volumes of high-quality domestic television shows.
However, some TV operators said they found the ministry’s response unconvincing, saying that there are as many as 250 licensed TV channels nationwide and that of these, only 100 are commonly viewed by the general public.
It is inherently unfair to evaluate a channel solely based on its penetration rate, they added.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS