The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday it would ask newly appointed China Television (CTV, 中視) chairman Lin Sheng-fen (林聖芬) to brief the commission next week about how the new management plans to run one of the nation’s oldest TV channels.
Lin was president of the China Times (中國時報) before he accepted the CTV appointment. Last year, the China Times was sold to the Want Want Group (旺旺集團), along with affiliates of the China Times Group (中時集團), including the Commercial Times (工商時報), CTi TV (中天電視), CTV and China Times Weekly (時報週刊).
Want Want Group said last year that the purchase was purely a “personal investment” for Tsai Eng-ming (蔡衍明), the group’s chairman of the board.
Registration for the change of ownership for CTi TV and CTV must be approved by NCC.
NCC spokesperson Lee Ta-sung (李大嵩) said it was customary to ask the person in charge to answer questions from commissioners.
Questions would involve the transfer of shares, the new management and operational plan.
Meanwhile, NCC chairwoman Bonnie Peng (彭芸) reiterated yesterday that her dissenting opinions about the amended Satellite Radio and Television Act (衛星廣播電視法) were not “so different” from the consensus reached among commissioners.
She said the commission should introduce the media accountability system in a gradual and orderly fashion. While Peng agreed with the commission’s consensus prohibiting advertisement placement in news and children channels, she disagreed with the government being prevented from sponsoring any program. She said programs sponsored by the Government Information Office and broadcast by the Discovery Channel were quality programs and should not be banned.
She also disagreed with the commission’s decisions setting a rating system for television commercials and asking TV news stations to strictly check facts. She said it would be difficult to categorize advertisement content and deal with news sources who insist on maintaining anonymity.
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