The nation’s radio broadcasters yesterday said that they should be given a one-year transitional period to adjust to new proposed regulations on radio stations that accept sponsorships from advertisers, adding that the National Communications Commission (NCC) should consider increasing the time allowed for commercials to avoid problems in the enforcement of the regulations.
The new regulations are to allow radio stations to disclose the names of program sponsors, including product brands and specifications, as well as the service provided by the sponsors. However, they are banned from highlighting the prices and effectiveness of the sponsors’ products. Radio stations are also to be prohibited from offering sponsors’ service numbers or publishing any message encouraging consumption of the products.
Meanwhile, the new regulations stipulate that a one-hour radio program can broadcast information from a sponsor for no more than four minutes, and such information can only be advertised on four occasions through the course of the program.
However, the time needed to air a sponsor’s information will not be counted as a program’s time for commercials, which are capped at 15 minutes in a one-hour program.
The new regulations also listed several other restrictions.
Both news programs and children’s program are prohibited from accepting sponsorships from private businesses. In addition, sponsorships from from tobacco companies, international matchmaking services, pharmaceutical companies manufacturing drugs that require prescriptions from doctors, political parties and other illegally-traded goods or services are no longer permissible.
Sponsorships related to alcoholic beverage producers are only allowed at certain times of the day.
Taiwan Broadcasting Co CEO Ma Chang-sheng (馬長生) said that, rather than capping how many times a sponsor’s information can be transmitted to four times for each one-hour program, the commission only needs to limit the air time used to broadcast the information to four minutes, as some ads require a longer air time.
Ma also said that the commission should be more lenient in terms of the types of information that radio stations are allowed to broadcast, including the price, effectiveness and even the advertising jingle of a product manufactured by a sponsor, as well as the sponsor’s contact information.
Voice of Taipei chairperson Liao Wan-chih (廖婉池) said that the NCC should instead raise the advertising time limit from 15 minutes of a program’s time.
“Advertising is in a sense a kind of sponsorship, and it is unnecessary to distinguish between sponsorship and an advertisement, because such a distinction will only create problems when the regulations are enforced,” Liao said. “Radio operators should decide if they want more commercials that hurt the quality of their programs or fewer commercials to raise a program’s value.”
Some radio operators also said that, unlike television, radio can only convey information through audio, and they should be allowed to broadcast information that is banned for TV sponsors.
While radio operators are open to accepting sponsorships from advertisers, results of an NCC survey showed that most people are fine with radio operators broadcasting a sponsor’s information in programs, as long as they are not trying to sell anything and disclose the information of the products to be verified.
The response to radio programs that introduce products made by a sponsor differ, with 45.2 percent of respondents finding it acceptable and 43.2 percent finding it unacceptable.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner