The National Communications Commission (NCC) denied yesterday that it plans to amend the Cable Television Law (有線電視廣播法) to require cable service operators to offer set-top boxes (STB) for free.
The box turns digital signals into content that can be displayed on standard TV sets.
"We have never talked about it [giving the boxes for free]," said commission Vice Chairman Howard Shyr (
Shyr said that the commission has asked cable service providers to accelerate the digitization of their content, and they have all agreed to work toward the goal.
However, he said that the cable providers have never mentioned anything about leasing STBs to customers or simply giving them away for free.
"Naturally, we are delighted if the operators are willing to make STBs available free of charge," he said, adding that the law could not demand operators to do so.
Shyr said cable providers either charge customers extra for digital channels or increase the number of paid channels to raise the penetration rate of digital cable service. The strategy has proven successful in other countries, he said.
Shyr noted, however, that the usage rate of STBs in Taiwan is only 3.25 percent and the service might not prove viable here.
Shyr said that if the operators were willing to offer STBs for free and the usage rate exceeded 85 percent, then analog services could be terminated, which might in turn increase the popularity of the digital cable service.
Huang Ching-yi (
According to Huang, the commission has yet to finalize this matter and will consult multi-service operators on related issues.
The government is set to withdraw all analog wireless TV channels by 2010 and turn them into digital channels. It also wants to digitize all cable stations some time between 2008 and 2010.
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