The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday it was planning to conduct experiments offering digital cable TV services nationwide before deciding on how to implement the policy.
The commission wants cable TV services digitized by 2013 after which it will stop analog transmissions.
“Less than 50 percent of the nation’s cable television is digitized, and the commission wants to know why progress is so slow,” NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said. “Through the experiments, we want to identify what the real problems are. We don’t want to just hear one side of the story from the cable TV operators.”
Chen said that the commission would examine the results of the experiments before promoting digital cable TV services nationwide. He also said they would ask operators to submit a timeline detailing the implementation of the switchover.
Tsai Kuo-tung (蔡國棟), chief of the NCC’s competitive policy division, said the commission would soon promulgate the rules governing the execution of the experiments.
“Cable operators can choose whether they want to participate in the experiment or not,” Tsai said.
“If they choose to participate, they can propose where and how the experiments should be conducted. The commission will evaluate whether the projects are viable, make suggestions and come up with incentives for customers to switch from analog services to digital services,” he said.
“We hope that the experiments will tell us whether cable TV operators have tried hard enough to promote the digital services or whether customers are simply not motivated to make the switch,” Tsai said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS