The National Communications Commission (NCC) on Thursday approved the Broadcasting Corp of China’s (BCC) transfer of ownership to Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), after his wife Liang Lei (梁蕾) reduced her shareholding in UFO Network, another radio station.
To prevent a monopoly, the NCC ruled in June last year that Liang — who is also a UFO Network board director — must reduce her shareholding in UFO Network to below 10 percent within six months, among other requirements.
Jaw and his wife did not meet the requirements before the deadline and in October, Jaw resigned as chairman of the BCC, citing “relentless persecution” by the government.
The NCC met again to review the transfer of ownership to Jaw in February, two months after the six-month period had ended.
The NCC did not reach a decision on whether to reject the ownership change, but rather postponed the deadline for Jaw and his wife to meet the requirements by 15 work days.
On March 19, two days before the deadline, Jaw notified the NCC that Liang had sold 24 percent of her stake in UFO, leaving her with a 9.99 percent stake in the company.
The NCC said that Liang sold her shares to three individuals not affiliated with any political party, government agency or the military.
It declined to disclose the names of the three individuals or the price at which the shares were sold.
Some BCC employees questioned the NCC’s neutrality, to which NCC Chairman Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) responded that the commission was being discreet in handling the issue.
Apart from selling UFO shares, Jaw agreed to eight additional requirements set by the NCC, including raising the percentage of self-produced BCC programs and prohibiting foreign capital in the company.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-owned Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) sold BCC, Central Motion Picture Co and China Television Co to China Times Group subsidiary Jungli Investment Co (榮麗投資公司) in 2005 for NT$9.3 billion (US$280.7 million).
The transaction was facilitated by Hua Hsia, an investment firm owned by the KMT.
The deal was later canceled because the China Times Group was unable to pay the amount in full.
Jaw later purchased the company from Hua Hsia. Jaw never said how much he paid for the company.
Jaw’s resignation announcement came after the NCC approved the sale of BCC to four subsidiaries. The government believes the four subsidiaries were actually owned by Jaw.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS