Former National Communications Commission chairperson Bonnie Peng (彭芸) yesterday criticized the commission over its ruling on the transfer of cable TV services owned by China Network System (CNS) to the Want Want China Times Group, questioning why the media regulator was in a hurry to pass the deal.
“They have been reviewing the case for 18 months and could not make any decision,” Peng said. “I don’t understand why they decided to pass the case eight days before four new commissioners take office in a manner resembling a forced march in the military.”
Peng said it was regrettable that three commissioners, including NCC Vice Chairperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) and commissioners Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) and Chung Chi-hui (鍾起惠), decided to withdraw from the review.
Their respective expertise in economics, law and communications could have helped resolve issues over the concentration of media ownership, she said.
She also accused the commission of not taking into consideration three important media regulations: the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法) and the Cable Television Act (有線廣播電視法).
The nation could have had a more comprehensive discussion on the issue of cross-media ownership if the commission had begun the work two years ago, she said.
Peng made the remarks at a press conference yesterday in which she unveiled her new book, NCC and Media Policy (NCC, 與媒介政策), in which she comments on the Want Want-CNS deal.
“I look at the deal from a perspective of public interest,” Peng said. “Did [Want Want China Times Group chairman] Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) and his son purchase the cable television services of CNS based on the public interest? The new reports said that Tsai was sincere in his interview with the commissioners and promised to do the best. Well, best of what?”
Peng said that Tsai posted pictures of Chen, Weng and Chung in its Chinese-language China Times daily and accused them of giving the group a hard time when the commission reviewed a deal in which Want Want Holdings purchased the China Times in 2008.
She said she defended three commissioners, for which she was being criticized by Want Want China Times Group TV networks for a week.
“If that was public interest, then all the communications departments in the universities around the nation should be closed by now,” Peng said.
The commission granted conditional approval of the Want Want China Broadband-CNS deal, making Want Want China Times Group the largest media group in the nation. Aside from the cable TV services, the group also owns the Want Daily, CtiTV, China Television (CTV) and magazine China Times Weekly.
The ruling on the deal came with three conditions: Tsai and his family must not have anything to do with the management of CtiTV’s new channel, the operational plan of CTV’s digital news channel must be changed to make it a non-news channel and CTV’s news department must have an independent editorial system.
The approval will not take effect if Want Want fails to fulfill the conditions before specific deadlines or infringes the conditions.
In addition to the seven commitments made earlier, Want Want was also said to have agreed to 25 “commitments” listed by the commission, which are deemed by the commission to be part of the approved operational plan.
Some of the important ones include giving two free set-top boxes for each household subscribing to its cable service, providing a monthly subscription fee below the national average, making high-speed Internet service with transmission speed of 100Mbps available by June next year and reaching 100 percent of penetration rate for the digital cable television service by 2014. The group cannot establish new news channels, financial news channels or home shopping channels, either.
Chao Yu-pei (趙育培), special assistant to the chairman of Want Want China Broadband, however yesterday said the Want Want China Times Group did not agree to the three conditions, adding it was impossible for Tsai to dissociate himself from CtiTV’s news channel, because he was the largest shareholder of both CtiTV and CTV.
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