TV shopping network U-Life yesterday filed a lawsuit against National Communications Commission (NCC) Commissioner Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) for allegedly favoring another home shopping network, Eastern Home & Leisure Co (EHS), in the commission’s review of an application by multiple service operator Kbro Co to replace home shopping -channels.
Kbro applied to replace channels owned by EHS with those by U-Life, which has yet to be approved by the NCC.
On Wednesday, the NCC ruled that it would continue its discussion on Kbro’s application at another time, as long as Kbro provides more information on the principles governing the change in channel lineup.
U-Life general manager Li Deng-ke (李登科) said the company had already signed a contract with Kbro and paid the channel rental fees, while EHS had not. It was unfair that U-Life’s home shopping channels could still not be legally broadcast, he said.
Li also accused Weng of helping EHS negotiate a deal with the commission. Aside from filing criminal charges against Weng, Li said the company would seek compensation of NT$200 million (US$6.69 million) from Weng for the financial losses it has incurred.
U-Life’s lawyer, Du Ying-ta (杜英達), said Weng may have violated Item 4, Article 6 of the Anti--Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例). That item states a person can be sentenced to five years in prison if he directly or indirectly seeks unlawful gain for himself or for others in matters under his charge or supervision while knowing the act violates the law.
Weng issued a statement yesterday saying she would also pursue legal action to clear her name and to protect the NCC from any interference and threats made by U-Life.
“The NCC rules by consensus,” she said. “I am just one of the seven NCC commissioners. I am not the chairperson, who controls the review [of the application], nor am I able to control the opinions of other commissioners. I have never favored any party since I assumed my post [in 2008] and have never intervened in any case that is under review. I am puzzled by all the false allegations being made against me.”
Kbro’s channel change application was filed after the NCC reviewed its proposed subscription fee, which could affect the public interest. The replacement of home shopping networks could also affect members who have purchased items from the network, Weng said.
NCC Vice Chairperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said yesterday that the commission had ruled that Kbro must provide more information on the principles governing the channel changes, and Kbro had agreed to do so.
“We have yet to issue a ruling on the case,” Chen said. “The application was filed by Kbro, not EHS or U-Life. U-Life’s personal attacks against an individual NCC commissioner are highly inappropriate.”
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching