TV shopping operator Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co Ltd (EHS, 東森購物) on Tuesday said it was not worried about the possible withdrawal of five of its shopping channels from Taiwan Optical Platform Co (TOP, 台灣數位光訊) amid the recent collapse of negotiations on listing fees.
“We might lose 500,000 viewers from TOP’s broadcasting systems, but we gained 1.4 million additional viewers earlier this year from a collaboration with Chunghwa Telecom Co’s [CHT, 中華電信] multimedia-on-demand [MOD] service,” EHS, a subsidiary of Eastern Media International (東森國際), said in a statement. “We foresee limited impact on EHS’ operation.”
However, such a withdrawal would affect TOP’s annual revenue by NT$200 million (US$6.57 million), EHS said.
The National Communications Commission’s (NCC) attempt to mediate between the two companies failed on Saturday last week for a second time.
EHS is the nation’s largest TV shopping operator.
Taiwan has a total of eight TV shopping channels and EHS operates five of them, accounting for 62.5 percent market share.
When the two firms were about to renew their annual contract at the end of last year, EHS asked TOP to lower its channel listing fees.
When they failed to reach an agreement on the issue, EHS at the beginning of this year suspended its fee payments.
TOP has accused EHS of using its market position to try to force it to agree to lower its fees by threatening to withdraw from TOP’s broadcasting system.
“EHS’ possible withdrawal opens a window for another TV shopping operator to enter the market, which we believe would make Taiwan’s TV shopping industry healthier,” TOP said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
EHS possible pullout would not affect its financial performance this year, TOP said without elaborating.
It is not the first time that TOP has become embroiled in a long-running commercial dispute.
Eastern Media, which owns a 21.5 percent stake in Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC, 東森國際), late last year said that it strongly opposed TOP’s plan to purchase of 65 percent stake in EBC for NT$11.12 billion. It questioned TOP’s financial capability and its ownership of adult channels.
Since then, Eastern Media and TOP have traded accusations of using the media to spread misleading information in a bid to influence the government on the EBC share sale.
The Investment Commission on Aug. 22 rejected TOP’s bid for EBC, saying it would expand TOP’s market share and undermine freedom of speech in the nation.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS