The National Communications Commission (NCC) is planning to amend the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣電法) to introduce different rules for the regulation of radio and television industries.
“Applying different standards to oversee the nation’s terrestrial radio and television services is an important concept that will be enshrined in the amended Broadcasting and Television Act,” NCC Commissioner Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said yesterday at a forum on the future of the radio industry.
Weng said that in terms of size and the way operational licenses are issued, the two industries are very different, which makes it more appropriate to use different standards to guide industry regulation. She added that the amendment would also include regulations governing joint ventures and chain broadcasting among different radio stations that did not appear in the original Broadcasting and Television Act.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the NCC’s communication content department, said the Government Information Office (GIO) issued an official notice in 1997 allowing different radio stations to establish joint ventures or radio broadcast chains.
Weng said that the commission also considered the innovative services that both radio and television stations could offer in the age of digital convergence and would incorporate relevant regulations in the act.
The commission is hoping to deliver a draft amendment in June or July, at which point they will invite public input, Weng added.
Weber Lai (賴祥蔚), director of the Applied Media Arts Graduate Institute at National Taiwan University of Arts, agreed that the NCC needs to adopt different standards to regulate radio and television.
“Now the NCC is considering shutting down analog services and providing digital services,” Lai said. “They need to let radio operators know if that same policy is going to be applied to them. For those who are reluctant to make the change, the commission should grant them sufficient time to redeem their investments.”
Lai also hoped that the new regulations would not put up roadblocks to radio operators providing innovative services such as data transmission or Webcasting.
Meanwhile, Weng said that the commission was scheduled to finalize the wording of an amendment to the Cable Television Act (有線電視法) in about two weeks.
This will allow cable broadcasters to operate in different regions rather than in just one region, and ban cable broadcasters from airing commercials in the middle of programs. The amendment will also reduce the percentage of programs provided by system operators and their affiliated enterprises from 25 percent of usable channels to 10 percent.
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