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Minister reveals government shares sale plan for TTV

Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) yesterday said that detailed plans concerning the sale of government-owned shares in Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd (TTV, 台視) will be completed and made public by the end of this month.

Cheng briefed the press yesterday on the latest developments concerning the plan.

He also said that the Bank of Taiwan and the Land Bank of Taiwan had been chosen to help the government implement the plan.

Consultants

"In the meantime, we are also hiring consultants to look at this matter. When we finish the plan, we will submit it to the Cabinet's task force for handling government-owned shares of terrestrial TV stations for final approval," Cheng said.

The government owns 25.64 percent of TTV and used to own 36.25 percent of Chinese Television System (CTV,華視).

CTS became part of the Public Television Service at the end of last month.

Task force

The task force, which consists of 17 people from different political parties, was established to avoid potential allegations of favoritism and is responsible for ensuring that the entire deal proceeds fairly.

As for the banks, Cheng said that bank employees will begin their work to evaluate the TV station and figure out a mechanism to protect its employees' legal rights before government-owned shares are sold.

Banks

The minister also said that task force members are fully authorized to ask other banks to help process the deal if they believe it is necessary.

"We do not have any preferences on this issue," Cheng said.

The Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法), which was last revised in 2003, stipulates that the government must release its shareholdings in terrestrial TV stations by Dec. 26 this year.

The legislature, however, is deadlocked over a draft bill -- the Act to Handle Government-owned Shares of Terrestrial TV Stations (無線電視事業公股處理條例) -- which aims to regulate the release of government holdings in terrestrial TV stations.
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