Radio station operators asked the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday to halt a plan releasing more broadcasting licenses, saying the increased competition would cut into advertising revenues and make it difficult for them to survive.
The commission wants to amend the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法) to allow applicants to acquire licenses through a panel review, auction, public invitation to tender or other methods. The amendment would also allow station operators to renew licenses one final time for a six-year period. After that period, the NCC would reassign frequencies.
The NCC is also considering releasing 155 operational licenses for low-power radio stations in an attempt to deal with problems caused by illegal stations.
The proposed amendment drew vehement objections from the station operators during a public hearing yesterday.
Yang Bi-tsuen (楊碧村), chairman of the Commercial Radio Broadcasting Association, cited statistics from Brain Magazine, which last February published the 2008 advertising expenditures in four traditional media. Advertising revenues topped NT$46.8 billion (US$1.46 billion), while those from radio accounted for 3 percent of the total, he said, and every radio station would have trouble surviving if the government kept opening up frequencies for newcomers.
Representatives from some radio stations criticized the new license renewal and acquisition policy. They said putting licenses up for auction would lead to large corporations controlling the industry. The pursuit of profits forces stations to engage in malicious competition, hurting program quality, they said.
Others said that commission should not use the same standards for newcomers and established stations with good reputations.
Such a policy made the commission “worse than the Communists,” they said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said the NCC amended the Broadcasting and Television Act because it contradicts Article 94 of the Budget Act (預算法): “Granting of quotas, frequencies, or other limited or fixed amount special licenses shall be conducted by open auction or public invitation to tender.”
The Broadcasting and Television Act states the government grants licenses through a panel review, he said.
“Let’s amend the Budget Act instead,” he said.
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