A new act governing the supervision of channels on cable TV and the multimedia-on-demand (MOD) system would lift the requirement that caps the number of subscribers to any service provider at one-third of the total subscribers in the nation, according to the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The draft statute of cable and multiple-channel platform service management is one of five new acts proposed by the commission, which intends to merge and change three current media acts as well as the Telecommunications Act (電信法) to meet the changes in the digital media landscape.
NCC Planning Department Deputy Director Chi Hsiao-cheng (紀效正) said the current cap set for cable system operators would actually punish operators if their subscriber numbers increased because of good service.
He said the new statute would lift the cap, thereby encouraging operators to provide better service to customers.
For operators whose customer numbers increase because of mergers or acquisitions, Chi said the commission would use administrative measures to prevent any operator from monopolizing the market or providing other negative consequences when the commission reviews their cases.
Chi said the new act would also allow the commission to relax the regulations on cable or MOD operators whose market share is below 25 percent.
He said that they would only be asked to regularly report the number of their subscribers and their monthly service fee to the commission.
However, he said that the commission would set stricter regulations for cable or MOD operators whose market shares exceed 25 percent, adding that those operators must have their monthly service charge approved by the commission.
According to the commission, the draft legislation is to be posted on the commission’s Web site and it is to also hold public hearings on the proposed act.
In addition to the proposed statute of cable and multiple-channel platform service management, the commission unveiled the draft statutes for terrestrial television and channels management, and electronic communication.
The commission said the draft statute for terrestrial television and channels management would remove regulations banning investment from the government, political parties and the military from the three current media acts, adding that that particular restriction should be listed in the Budget Act and proposed political party act instead.
The proposed electronic communications act would expedite the legal procedures needed to protect the victims of cyberbullying or other Internet crimes, the commission said.
‘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
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
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