The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved a draft amendment to the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) that would prohibit the government from embedding its agenda in TV programming.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the amendment would be sent to the Executive Yuan for review. The Executive Yuan will submit the final version to the legislature.
The commission proposed the amendment in February, but the version drew sharp criticism from political commentators and TV stations.
The NCC then held a series of hearings to gather opinions before revising its proposal.
The new draft suggests that satellite TV services be banned from promoting the agendas of their sponsors or advertisers in TV news and children’s programs.
The government and other advertisers would be allowed to sponsor the production of feature news programs as well as sports and arts programs provided that the names of the sponsors are stated clearly at the beginning or end of the program.
“The amendment would not mean that TV stations can take money and explicitly, legitimately advertise the products in their programs,” NCC member Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said. “Advertisers cannot interfere with the production or editorial process of the programs.”
Weng said the amendment was designed to encourage large corporations to sponsor sports and arts events.
In the amendment, “sponsors” are defined as corporations, organizations, groups or individuals that provide monetary or non-monetary resources for programming without compromising the independence of the program’s content.
By contrast, “product placement” is defined as TV stations promoting concepts, products, or logos on behalf of corporations, organizations, groups or individuals based on interests including monetary compensation.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of NCC’s communication content department, said that a feature news program would violate the Act if it does not clearly distinguish advertising from other program content.
Meanwhile, Weng said the NCC was working toward relaxing the restrictions on the government, political parties and the military holding shares in media companies.
Although the NCC has upheld the ban on political and military investment in media, this has at times caused problems, she said.
“The commission has strictly adhered to the spirit of Article 1 of the National Communications Commission Organization Act [通傳會組織法] — that we must maintain the principle of the government, political parties and the military withdrawing from the media,” Weng said. “In the past, this meant that none of the stated parties could own a single share in media.”
Weng said this principle was significant but had generated problems in some of the NCC’s rulings.
As some media corporations are publicly traded, the government can purchase shares on the stock market, she said, calling this unavoidable.
Weng said the commission would continue to monitor shareholding in media companies, but the NCC will focus on determining which shareholders have actual influence on company operations.
Government and military officials and representatives of political parties cannot hold management positions, she said.
After deliberation, the NCC is considering two solutions to the problem, Weng said. The first would cap direct shareholding by the stated parties at 5 percent and indirect shareholding at 10 percent. The second would ban all direct investment and cap indirect investment at 10 percent.
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