Cabinet considers TV stations' future

Responding to President Chen Shu-bian's (陳水扁) call to free the media from political influence, the Executive Yuan is considering turning one of two government-owned terrestrial TV stations into a privatized operation and the other into a public corporation.

The Government Information Office (GIO), the supervisory agency for the media industry, is scheduled to produce a detailed plan by June.

The government owns 25.64 percent of Taiwan Television (台視, TTV) and 36.25 percent of China Television System (華視, CTS). The stakes in both companies long predate the DPP administration.

According to Hung Chiang-chuan (洪瓊娟), deputy director-general of the GIO, the government plans to spend between NT$3 billion and NT$5 billion to buy one of the two stations and turn it over to the Public Television Service (PTS, 公視).

"Although it would cost less to turn TTV into a public corporation, the CTS has a better structure and may cause less financial burden for the government [in the long run] if it becomes a public corporation," she said.

Eventually, the government would like to see public television offer a wide variety of shows such as Hakka and Aboriginal programs, she said.

The Cabinet's Council for Hakka Affairs plans to launch the Hakka Radio Station in March. The legislature has approved a NT$320 million budget for the station.

Hung estimated that it may take five to six years to reach the goal.

"However, it may take longer if the legislature fails to support the proposed decree designed to turn terrestrial television stations into public corporations," she said.

First, however, the legislature is set to conduct the final round of cross-party negotiations on amendments to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法) presented by the DPP caucus that would place restrictions on the private ownership of broadcast media. The legislative session starts next Tuesday.

However, the GIO is scheduled to present its own version of the amendments within a month. It has been holding public hearings to solicit opinions from the media industry, academics and experts.

While similar, the two sets of amendment proposals differ in scope.

The GIO's proposal would ban certain civil servants, political party members, military personnel and their family members from owning more than a 50 percent stake in radio stations and a 10 percent stake in terrestrial television stations.

Foreigners, including Chinese, would also be prohibited from investing in terrestrial television stations.

Foreign investment in cable television stations, directly and indirectly, would be limited to a 60 percent stake, while direct ownership of satellite television stations could not exceed 50 percent.

The DPP's draft, on the other hand, would bar six categories of government officials, civil servants, party members and their families from assuming certain positions or holding stakes, directly or indirectly, in private electronic media organizations.

The draft would also ban political parties from making donations to set up such establishments.

They would be banned from owning more than a 50 percent stake in radio stations or 10 percent in terrestrial television stations.

Foreigners would be allowed to own a maximum of 60 percent, directly and indirectly, in cable television stations.

Government officials listed in the draft include the head of state, the vice president, the premier and vice premier as well as the presidents and vice presidents of the Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan and Control Yuan.