The National Communications Commission (NCC) is scheduled to announce new service areas for cable television services in October, with a county or city being the basic operational area.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the policy was designed to tackle monopolies.
“The nation has 51 cable television service areas, and 39 have only one operator,” he said. “We passed a resolution last year that we would announce new service areas. The monopolies will no longer be protected by the law.”
Chen said lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee had been criticizing the NCC because the public has yet to see benefits from a more competitive cable television market.
The NCC said the nation has 22 counties and cities. The new policy will require operators to offer a service in a county or city, rather than in an administrative district.
Chen said an amendment to the Cable Television Act (有線廣播電視法), which is being reviewed by the Transportation Committee, will cap the total number of subscribers to a cable service operator to one-third of the total nationwide.
The amendment will require cable operators to provide digital services before their licenses can be renewed, he added.
In related news, Chen said China Television Co (CTV) must choose an independent board member before June 28 or face a penalty.
The NCC reviewed management changes at CTV in 2009 and as the station is owned by the Want Want-China Times Group, which also owns CTi TV and the Chinese-language China Times, one of the conditions that came with the approval of the changes was that the terrestrial television station must have an independent member on its board.
Chen said that although CTV chairman Lin Sheng-fen (林聖芬) explained why the company had failed to meet the condition, the commissioners were not satisfied.
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