The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday decided to extend its review of Next TV’s (壹電視) application to launch entertainment, sports and music channels because the network failed to provide detailed information on how it plans to present the entertainment and sports coverage.
The commission was scheduled to review the application at a commissioners’ meeting yesterday.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the network stated in its application that about 21 percent of programming on the entertainment channel would be dedicated to entertainment news. Approximately 30 percent of programming on its sports channel would be about sports news and outstanding athletes.
“But the application does not say whether they plan to present the news using technology as it does in its ‘News-in-Motion,’” Chen said.
It was believed that Chen was referring to the controversy generated by the graphic nature of Chinese-language Apple Daily’s online News-in-Motion section.
The Apple Daily and Next TV belong to the same media group.
Chen said the NCC passed the case back to the taskforce that did the preliminary review, which will then ask Next TV to provide more information on these sections.
Last month, Chen had said that these channels were less controversial and were likely to secure approval from the commission.
Yesterday, however, he said that “now the situation has changed,” without elaborating.
Chen added that the commission was scheduled to review the application for news and information channels next Wednesday.
In response, Next TV editor-in-chief Chen Yu-hsin (陳裕鑫) said it respected the NCC’s decision and would offer more supplementary material.
Meanwhile, the commissioners yesterday also passed amendments to articles 43 and 44 of the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法) and Article 37 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法).
Under the amendments a satellite television channel may be ordered to suspend service if its accumulated penalties exceed NT$10 million (US$300,000) within two years.
Terrestrial television services may also face the same punishment if accumulated penalties exceed NT$6 million. Radio stations with accumulated penalties of NT$3 million will be asked to suspend service.
Chen Jeng-chang said that stations would be given warnings when they reach the NT$7 million, NT$4.2 million and NT$2.1 million mark respectively.
The policy will take effect on July 1, giving service operators about seven months to make adjustments, Chen said.
The commission would add up the penalties that have been handed down since last year, he said.
LOOSE STANDARDS
“The commission decided to amend the rules because the current regulations say that a television service may be suspended if it commits three violations,” he said. “That article, however, was never executed because the standards were loose.”
The commission also decided that before it orders any TV station to suspend service, the very last violation must exceed level six on the penalty scale, meaning that the total points must be between 61 and 70 points.
If the violation hits level six, a station’s service will be suspended for three days.
Should the violations reach level 10, the highest level, the TV service will be suspended for three months.
If the violation hits level eight or higher and is deemed a very serious case, the commission can hold a hearing to determine if the TV service should be suspended immediately without the need to adhere to any previously stated rules.
SLIDING SCALE
The commission has penalty scales for both satellite and terrestrial television services to help it determine the fines for different types of violations. The commission will first determine if it is a minor, serious or very serious violation.
An operator will get 10 points for a minor violation, 30 points for a serious violation or 50 points for a very serious violation.
The commission will gauge the severity of the violation and check if similar violations occurred in the past to determine the exact penalty a TV service should pay.
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