Thirteen satellite television channels were yesterday fined NT$200,000 each for failing to reach the percentages required for Taiwan-produced programming and for reruns during prime-time hours, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said.
The amendment to the Regulations on Satellite Broadcasting Program Supplier Broadcasting Domestically Produced Program (衛星頻道節目供應事業播送本國節目管理辦法), which was passed at the end of last year, took effect in January.
The amendment targets TV series and variety shows aired between 8pm and 10pm, movies broadcast between 9pm and 11pm and children’s programming broadcast between 5pm and 7pm.
During these time slots, locally produced programs must account for no less than a quarter of the content. Reruns may only account for 60 percent of programming, while movie channels’ content can only run old programs 80 percent of the time.
The commission between January and June evaluated programs aired on 134 cable and multimedia-on-demand satellite channels, NCC spokesperson Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said, adding that it found that Eastern Super TV (東森超視) and 12 other channels had failed to meet the criteria.
San Da Cable TV Channel (三大一台) and documentary film station CNEX Channel (視納華仁) were given warnings.
The commission has tried to be lenient in issuing penalties to channels that fail to meet the regulations, as they only took effect this year, Weng said.
“We have considered the severity of each case and if the channel has taken actions to address the situation. We have also considered that it could take a year to plan the production of new series,” he said, adding that the commission would conduct a comprehensive evaluation after the regulations have been enforced for one year.
In related news, Weng said that the commission has launched an investigation into whether Sanlih TV News produced a fake story when it reported that former Democratic Progressive Party secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) frequented a private club in Taipei.
The station allegedly interviewed one of its own reporters as a source and reprimanded a news anchor for refusing to report the story.
The station admitted violating the journalistic code of ethics in an interview with the NCC on Tuesday, Weng said, adding that the commission has requested that the station’s own ethic committee first deliberate the case.
“The station must send a report to the NCC on the committee’s conclusion, which will then be reviewed by the commissioners,” he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS