The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved an amendment to the Regulations Governing the Classification of Television Programs (電視節目分級處理辦法), with the programs classified as suitable for children with parental guidance (PG) further divided into those that are appropriate viewing for teenagers aged between 12 and 14 years (PG-12) and those appropriate for teenagers between 15 and 17 (PG-15).
Current regulations stipulate that programs that are classified PG are recommended for audiences who are 12 years or older with parental guidance.
NCC spokesman Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the commission amended the regulations to make them consistent with those for movies and online games, adding that the regulations in Taiwan are now in sync with those of other nations. Television programs imported from other countries might not need to be re-rated if the program’s source country has a similar classification system to that of Taiwan, Yu said.
Yu said that the commission would hold a hearing next month with television channel operators and make necessary changes before implementing the new system.
The commission said the amendment was made after reviewing regulations implemented in the UK, Australia and South Korea.
The commission said it would allow programs classified “Protected” (P) to appear during prime time — between 7pm and 9pm — on regular channels on terrestrial or cable systems. P-rated programs are intended for children six years or older with parental guidance. These programs are only screened on movie channels between 7pm and 9pm.
Programs rated PG-12 can also be shown between 9pm and 11pm on regular channels after the new regulations take effect.
Movie channels would be allowed to show both PG-12 and PG-15 rated programs between 9pm and 11pm under the new regulations.
The commission said that it has also proposed partially lifting restrictions on programs on encrypted channels. With the exception of programs that are classified as having “hardcore pornographic content,” that involves sexual violence, sexual abuse or bestiality, explicit depictions of sexual organs no longer need to be removed or pixelated, it said.
However, the commission said that it would first seek public opinion concerning content for encrypted channels.
Yu said that the amendment also applies to television news program content, adding that the commission would present two options for people to consider.
“There are people who think television news content should remain G-rated [for all ages] at all times, whereas television news operators have asked for P-rated content, because G-rated footage might not always adequately express events,” he said.
The amendment requires TV operators to provide warnings before a program begins if it contains scenes of violence, horror, sexually explicit conduct, discriminatory language or alcohol or drug use, the commission said.
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
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
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