Disputes between terrestrial and cable TV networks over “must-carry” channels in cable TV programming remain unsettled, as both sides continued to debate the necessity of such a requirement in two recent information sessions held by the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC hosted information sessions on Friday on two of the five new media regulatory bills that it is to submit to the Executive Yuan by the end of the year. One is about the regulations on radio and terrestrial TV networks, while the other is about cable systems and satellite channels.
The bills were created from references mainly in the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) and the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法).
However, the NCC incorporated the concept of digital convergence into the two new acts, as people can now view the same content on different types of devices through different connection methods.
Currently, the nation’s must-carry channel policy unconditionally requires cable TV networks to carry terrestrial TV channels, including those of Taiwan Television (TTV), China Television (CTV), Chinese Television System (CTS), Formosa Television (FTV), Public Television Service, Hakka Television Service and Taiwan Indigenous TV.
Under the policy, cable TV operators are exempt from paying for authorization to broadcast programs created by terrestrial TV channels, while terrestrial TV operators do not need to pay cable TV networks for inclusion in cable service lineups.
A number of lawmakers deemed the policy to be unfair and amended the three active laws in 2012, but the amendments never secured final approval from the legislature.
The must-carry channel problem remained one of the key issues preventing legislators from reaching a consensus on amendments in cross-party negotiations on Wednesday last week.
The information sessions on Friday were dominated by discussions over the must-carry regulations. Representatives from terrestrial and satellite channels debated whether the government should continue requiring cable service providers to carry terrestrial TV channels.
About 80 percent of the nation’s households access TV programming via cable services, TTV representative Yang Yong-ming (楊永明) said, adding that if the government annuls the must-carry requirement without comprehensive complementary measures, audiences would be restricted from accessing quality programming and major government announcements aired on terrestrial TV channels.
Satellite Television Broadcasting Association secretary-general May Chen (陳依玫) said terrestrial TV channels are transmitted via radio waves, which are public resources.
However, she said the government had privatized these public resources by selling TTV and CTV to private corporations.
Commercial terrestrial channels including TTV, CTV, CTS and FTV should compete with all other cable channels and should no longer be protected by the must-carry restriction, Chen said.
“These channels use public resources and sell airtime for commercial purposes,” she said. “We suggest that they return these resources to the government, which should reassign the frequency spectrums.”
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