TELEVISION
NCC to mediate dispute
The National Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday said that it would mediate a dispute over copyright fees between cable TV provider Homeplus Digital Co and Yong Xin Multimedia Co, the Taiwanese agent for several well-known foreign channels. Yong Xin has notified Homeplus of its plan to cancel 12 channels, including HBO, Animax, Cinemax, CNN and Cartoon Network, on Friday next week, after negotiations on copyright fees with the cable TV operator hit a deadlock. The commission has received a request for mediation from Homeplus and would arrange a meeting as soon as possible between the two parties with the NCC also present, an agency official said. During the mediation period, signal transmission cannot be cut off, the official said. According to past practice, the two companies can continue negotiating if the mediation attempt fails, the official said. If negotiations ultimately fail, Yong Xin might have to remove the 12 channels and Homeplus would need to apply to adjust its channel lineup, the officials said. Homeplus has about 1.005 million subscribers, accounting for 22.48 percent of the market, NCC data for the first quarter of this year showed.
SOCIETY
Tsai travel report denied
Former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office on Sunday denied a Chinese-language media report that she is planning to visit Japan. The China Times report was “inaccurate,” Tsai Shu-ching (蔡舒景), a spokesperson for Tsai Ing-wen, said in a statement. “There is currently no such plan as reported by the media outlet,” the statement said. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has not engaged in negotiations with its Japanese counterpart to arrange a potential trip to Japan by Tsai Ing-wen. Citing unnamed sources, the China Times reported that think tanks in the US, Europe and Japan have extended invitations to Tsai since she left office on May 20. With Japan being nearest to Taiwan of the possible destinations, it is most likely she would visit there first, it said. A Japan visit could be arranged by applying for a visa to visit relatives, following a precedent set by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who in 2001 traveled to Japan for the first time since leaving office in 2000, the newspaper reported.
CULTURE
Olympics event planned
The Taiwan Pavilion at the Cultural Olympiad in Paris is to host a “Win Together Glory Night” on Friday, featuring drag queen Nymphia Wind and other performers. The Ministry of Culture in a news release yesterday said that it had organized the event to pay tribute to the Olympic athletes who took the world stage to pursue the ultimate in physical fitness. The Cultural Olympiad is a multidisciplinary artistic and cultural program running alongside the Summer Games. The Taiwan Pavilion at Parc de la Villette is open to the public until Saturday from 5pm to 10pm. Other performers include DJ Elvis Lin (林貓王), TAI Body Theatre, DJ Swallow (妖嬌) and Les Petites Choses Production at the “Win Together Glory Night,” which is on the eve of the Cultural Olympiad’s conclusion. The event’s name was chosen to echo the theme of “Win Together” embodied by the Taiwan Pavilion, the ministry said. The Taiwan Pavilion’s daily program has been so attractive that long lines have formed outside before the venue opens at 5pm daily, it said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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