The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to quickly pass amendments to three broadcasting acts it sees as the solution to all problems related to must-carry channels.
“Current must-carry channel regulations are to soon generate much controversy. The amendments to the three broadcasting acts are necessary due to changes in communications technology, as well as the market,” the commission said in a statement.
The broadcasting acts are the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Cable Television Act (有線電視法) and the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法).
The NCC statement came in response to criticism from the Taiwan Digital Convergence Development Association, which accused the commission of forcing cable operators to carry all terrestrial TV channels through a new interpretation of Article 37 of the Cable Television Act.
Article 37 states that a cable system operator must concurrently retransmit programs and advertisements of legally established over-the-air TV stations, adding that it must not alter the form, content or channel of these programs and advertisements, and must include these channels in its basic offerings.
“The commission’s rationale is that cable operators should carry more terrestrial TV channels because of increased capacity after the digitalization of their services, so more people can watch terrestrial TV channels free of charge,” the association said.
“However, the only party that is to benefit from such an interpretation would be terrestrial TV channels, which do not have to pay anything to be included in a cable channel lineup. With the exception of the government-funded Taiwan Broadcasting System’s channels, Taiwan Television, China Television and Formosa TV are commercial TV stations. These networks need to pay cable operators if they want people to watch them on cable, and they should not force the commission to amend regulations in their favor,” the association added.
However, the NCC said that Article 37 does not specify the number of channels that a cable TV system has to carry. It also said that terrestrial TV networks discontinued use of analog signals in 2012, which enabled them to develop one main channel and several sub-channels.
Due to the fact that less than 15 percent of cable services employed digital signals at that time, the commission allowed cable operators to carry only terrestrial TV’s main channels.
“However, many cable operators have switched to digital offerings as well, which increases their capacity for channels. The legal basis of Article 37 is now being challenged,” the commission said, adding that more legal issues generated by Article 37 would emerge if the amendments to the broadcasting acts failed to secure legislative approval.
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