New business TV channel to begin broadcasts today

The financially troubled Eastern Multimedia Co (東森媒體科技) is scheduled to launch a business news-focused TV channel today to compete head-to-head with the nation's only business news channel, Unique Satellite TV (非凡電視).

Formerly known as the ETTV S channel (東森新聞S台), the business news channel will be renamed ETtoday, which is also the name of the company's existing news Web site. ETtoday will be available on channel 57, putting it right next to Unique Satellite TV on channel 58.

The move reflects a growing trend, said Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉), a professor at National Taiwan Normal University's Graduate Institute of Mass Communication.

"Economic events [worldwide] play a major role in determining developments in Taiwan," Hu said.

"Rich or poor, everyone is interested in exploring ways to fatten up their wallets," he said.

The nation's red-hot stock market has enabled Unique Satellite, which has been in operation for 13 years, to reach high viewership ratings recently.

"Reporting business news can help us achieve a better market segmentation and ensure sustainable development in the long term. We want to serve Chinese speakers worldwide -- that's our goal," ETtoday's editor-in-chief Morris Tsai (蔡慶輝) said in a phone interview yesterday.

Eastern Multimedia broadcasts programs in 152 nations and Tsai expects the firm's extensive network to help boost the new channel's exposure overseas.

To prepare for the transformation, ETtoday has expanded its staff from around 70 early this year to 98, and plans to recruit 12 more. It has also increased the number of reporters and cameramen to 32.

The firm declined to disclose how much it has invested in the new channel, saying only that its production costs and personnel expenses will be higher.

The launch of the business news channel came after Eastern Multimedia Group chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) was detained by prosecutors last month amid allegations of bribery.

It was rumored at the time of Wang's detention that the group might undertake an organizational restructuring to cut costs, including streamlining its business news staff.

ETtoday plans to focus on mutual funds, the housing market, consumption, entrepreneurship and industrial news in the prime TV slots from 6pm to 8pm.

It will also arrange light entertainment programs introducing Japan's hot springs and China's tourism attractions, in a bid to offer a variety of content to meet the audience's needs.

"Unlike Unique Satellite, which has focused on business news from the very beginning, Eastern Multimedia has rich experience in reporting general news," Eastern Multimedia spokesman Chen Cheng-yi (陳正毅) said.

"We'll have broader analyses on domestic and international news, more than just the stock and food reports provided by Unique," Chen said.

ETtoday's priority should be to make normally boring business news lively and easy to understand, Hu said.

"ETtoday will have only three months to prove its capability," he said.