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.”
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS