Soccer enthusiasts can watch the FIFA World Cup on digital cable stations again, after ELTA TV authorized TVBS to broadcast the competition.
ELTA, who owns the exclusive rights to broadcast World Cup games in Taiwan, had authorized ERA TV to air the games on analog cable terrestrial and satellite TV channels. However, ELTA accused ERA of violating the terms by allowing the games to be aired on digital cable television channels.
ERA then sought a provisional injunction banning ELTA from stopping the transmission of the television signals before the tournament ends. However, ERA’s petition was overruled by the Taipei District Court on Thursday.
Following the court’s ruling, ELTA suspended the transmission of the signals to ERA at 12am on Friday, but said that fans can still watch the games on the Public Television Service (PTS) and TVBS channels as an interim arrangement before they locate another cable television network.
ELTA issued a statement late on Friday night that it had reached an agreement with TVBS that both will broadcast the remaining games until the championship game at midnight on July 14.
ERA Communications general manager Wu Chien-chiang (吳健強) apologized to viewers for the inconvenience caused by the incident. However, Wu said ERA could not accept ELTA’s stretching of the definition of digital cable television service, where the authorized content is prohibited. Wu said that the company merely sent out the signals, which the cable system operators receive and broadcast over set-top boxes.
“We paid a royalty of nearly NT$70 million [US$2.34 million] for a broadcasting right that essentially does not exist. We had made full payment before the games started,” Wu said. “We ask ELTA to consider the interests of the television viewers and reverse its decision.”
In response, ELTA said that it was ERA who broke the contract, and the company is using legal procedures to stop providing signals to ERA. It added that people can watch the games on PTS and TVBS, which covers viewers of both cable and broadcast TV.
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