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GIO shoots down cable channels grouping concept

Taipei City's Bureau of Information Director Wu Yu-sheng hands a joint petition to outgoing Government Information Office Director-General Arthur Iap asking for different groupings of cable TV channels that will allow package deals to viewers. PHOTO: YEH CHIH-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

The Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday rejected the proposal to corral cable channels into different groups so that cable providers can offer package deals for cable service alongside digital TV (DTV) service once it kicks off.

The proposal, propounded by the Taipei City Bureau of Information (BOI), suggested that current cable channels should be grouped into different categories such as news, entertainment and sports, and subscribers should be offered package deals instead of having to pay the full subscription fee for all available channels.

As of yesterday, there were another 11 cities and counties which also signed the petition.

"We hope to put channel grouping into practice only after more than 60 percent of the households nationwide have installed the DTV descrambler," said Arthur Iap (葉國興), GIO director-general. Iap was reassigned from the GIO top job yesterday and will be replaced by Minister without Portfolio Huang Hui-chen (黃輝珍).

"Channel grouping is now more a technical than a political issue. To be able to screen out unwanted cable channels, the subscribers have to purchase and install a filter, but we cannot force the subscribers to purchase one.

Wheeling and dealing * Taipei's BOI proposed that cable companies be allowed to group channels into categories via the DTV set-top box which is soon to be released. * The GIO said the idea would unnecessarily force consumers to buy the descrambler. * Eleven cities and counties joined Taipei in the proposal, which providers oppose. * The GIO's compromise states that 60 percent of cable customers would need to have bought the DTV boxes before regular cable channels can be grouped. * The BOI recently suggested a cap on the charge of DTV. * Providers have expressed exacerbation with the amount of regulation being proposed.

"This is a different issue from the DTV descrambler, which is an optional purchase for consumers who would like to order digital channels," Iap said.

Meanwhile BOI Director Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) defended the proposal saying that all cities and counties that agreed with the proposal were all for DTV, but they would like to solve the problem of cable channel groupings at the same time, otherwise there was no knowing when the problem could get tackled.

"If we have to put off channel groupings until 60 percent of the subscribers install DTV descramblers, it would only hinder cable TV growth, burden the subscribers further and heighten the conflict between the subscribers and providers," Wu said.

"We also do not have an official organization that can provide reliable figures for us to see when we reach over 60 percent. Plus if the review for DTV rates is passed now, the subscribers will have to pay NT$5,000 to NT$6,000 to have a descrambler installed, which is simply too expensive," he said.

"On the other hand, it is not a technological hassle to install a filter now -- the subscribers can buy a filter for NT$200 up to NT$300, or buy a scrambler for a few hundred dollars. And at NT$200, the public can rent a filter from the providers for only NT$8 a month and it would be easy to offer package deals," he said.
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