The nation’s cable television industry is facing challenges with the advance of the digital television age, a media expert said.
Despite the increasing popularity of over-the-top (OTT) services, the nation has yet to see a significant migration from cable TV to OTT platforms, 21st Century Foundation deputy director Jessica Chou (周韻采) told a Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia conference.
Citing National Communications Commission statistics, Chou said the number of cable TV subscribers rose from about 5 million in 2014 to 5.07 million in 2015 and to 5.2 million last year, reversing a slight decline between 2011 and 2013.
One of the main reasons people prefer cable TV is the low subscription fee, she said, which enables subscribers to access a basic cable service with more than 100 channels for only about US$17 per month.
The number of digital cable subscribers also rose from 257,727 in 2009 to 4.98 million last year, Chou said.
There are challenges ahead for cable TV operators, despite the increase in subscribers, she added.
The digital cable service does not attract enough subscribers to premium services, which only account for about 28 percent of digital cable subscribers, Chou said.
The majority of digital cable subscribers continue to use basic cable that costs less than US$20 per month, she said.
The problem is that the nation’s pay-TV industry, including Internet protocol television (IPTV) services, lack the necessary content and services to attract premium subscribers, Chou said, adding that this would hold back growth in cable service revenue.
Netflix shows that a successful service provider must either have mass content or must-have content, Chou said, but added that the business model could be affected by piracy.
Increasingly expensive content authorization fees would encourage more cable or IPTV operators to produce their own content, which would also protect them against piracy, she said.
About two-thirds of OTT service users are between the ages of 18 and 34, whereas a majority of cable TV subscribers are middle-aged or elderly people, Chou said.
The latter group is accustomed to watching basic cable content at fixed times, which explains why there has not been a significant migration to OTT in the short term, she said, adding that the situation explains the lack of subscribers to digital premium services.
However, the challenge for cable TV operators stems from polarized viewing habits, as the industry’s development necessitates a change to how TV channels produce content and how sponsors place advertisements, she said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS