Local governments yesterday questioned a policy proposal by the National Communications Commission (NCC) to readjust the service area for cable TV services, saying it would disrupt the arrangement of utility lines and would not necessarily increase competition among cable service providers.
At present, there are 51 cable TV service areas and 62 cable TV operators in Taiwan. Nearly all the cable operators enjoy a monopoly in their respective service areas.
In light of the deteriorating quality of cable TV services and their programming, the commission proposed to end the monopolies by allowing cable operators to branch out to different service areas. The range of the service areas would be expanded from a small district to an administrative area, such as a city or county.
However, the number of subscribers to a certain cable service must not exceed a third of the total number of cable service users.
Nevertheless, representatives of local governments have reservations about the policy.
Chiu Peng-hsin (邱蓬新), deputy commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism, said the policy would cause problems for the management of different utility lines. He also opposed the proposal that the commission have the administrative authority to review the cable service rates in each locality, which has always been the right of the local governments.
“Cable service operators must follow our instructions to install the cable lines because we have the right to review their rates every year,” Chiu said. “If the central government wants to take that right away from us, then please take on the responsibilities of handling disputes and consumer complaints, too.”
Chiu’s comments were echoed by representatives from the Hsinchu County and New Taipei City (新北市) governments.
Chiu added the policy might not increase the competition in different service areas as the commission had expected.
The Cable Broadband Institute in Taiwan, which represents a majority of the nation’s cable service providers, said the policy would only diminish, not increase, the scale of operations for cable operators.
Nevertheless, the policy still gained support from several cable operators as well as the Consumers’ Foundation and the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
To intensify competition, the FTC said the NCC must lower the thresholds for operators to enter a new service area and provide incentives to offer new services.
Meanwhile, the foundation said customers must be given complete information to make an informed decision on the different services.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai