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MOD service from Chunghwa Telecom gets NCC clearance

The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday it had finished reviewing Chunghwa Telecom's Multimedia-on-Demand (MOD) service, an open online platform which the NCC has now cleared of violating the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法).

NCC spokesman Howard Shyr (石世豪) said the commission had also made a few resolutions on the case.

The commission would soon amend the regulations on the fixed network and provide "administrative guidance" to Chung-hwa during the transitional period to ensure that it doesn't contravene government regulations, Shyr said.

The commission will also sign a contract with Chunghwa, in which the governing principles and details of the guidance will be defined.

Shyr said, however, that the commission had not discussed how Chunghwa would charge channel operators wanting to broadcast programs using the company's online platform, nor had it reached a consensus on how the company would charge subscribers for the MOD service.

"We have ascertained that concerns over influence from political parties, the government and the military are unfounded," he said.

The controversy stems from the fact that the MOD resembles an online cable TV service, which would be regulated by the Broadcasting and Television Law. As the government remains the largest shareholder in the former state-run company, the commission had ruled that the service was in violation of the law.

After the ruling, the commission had requested that Chung-hwa Telecom make adjustments to the operational model of its MOD service. After the company made the adjustments, the commission spent two months monitoring operations to ensure that the service conformed to government regulations.

Meanwhile, Shyr said that the commission could begin reviewing on Thursday an application by the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) to replace its chief executive and for the right to transfer shares.

A report in the Economic Daily News said that the NCC would be joined by the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Investment Commission to examine how Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) funded the purchase of BCC.

BCC shares are owned by four companies, which are believed to be affiliates of Jaw's UFO Network.

The report quoted an anonymous NCC official as saying that the BCC's capitalization had reached NT$3 billion (US$90.8 million). However, approximately 97 percent of its shares were owned by the four firms, with each having approximately NT$20 million in capital.

How the firms were able to fund the purchase of such an expensive company was expected to be the focus of the investigation, the report said.
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