The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that it will start its first arbitration meeting with cable service providers and satellite channel operators on Thursday to discuss a dispute over content authorization fees.
NCC spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said the dispute began last year as new cable service operators complained they were facing unfair treatment from satellite TV channel agents, who negotiated content authorization fees on behalf of the channel operators with all cable service operators.
“The new cable service operators said they have yet to attract subscribers, but they are asked to pay the same amount of content authorization fees as other cable operators, which is calculated by factoring in 15 percent of the number of registered households in the service area,” Wong said.
“The agents of satellite TV channels said that they were only charging a guaranteed minimum amount from cable system operators,” he said.
Sky Digital Convergence Service (全國數位天空), which is based in Banciao District (板橋), new Taipei City, has signed only 10,000 subscribers since the launch of its cable service last year, Wong said.
However, the content authorization fee that the cable operator has to pay is calculated by factoring in about 74,800 registered households in Banciao, he said.
The pricing mechanism charges all cable systems a fixed content authorization fee, regardless of the number of subscribers each cable operator has, Wong said.
He said this has caused new cable service operators to report the practice to the Fair Trade Commission, which ruled in October last year that major TV channel agents have given differential treatment to new cable operators and operators branching out to new areas.
As such, the agents were collectively fined NT$126 million (US$3.97 million), Wong said.
The new cable operators have also asked the NCC to step in to arbitrate the dispute, Wong said.
“The commission ruled last week that cable, video-on-demand and direct satellite broadcasting systems are considered broadcasting platforms. Content providers must not give differential treatment to different platform operators,” he said.
Asked if established cable operators could also argue that they are being treated unfairly for having to pay a higher content authorization fee than new cable operators, Wong said TV channel agents could consider adopting a progressive approach in charging new cable operators.
“Rather than a fixed content fee for all cable operators, the agents could lower the minimum guaranteed fee for new cable operators and gradually raise the fee to the standard level as the new operators expand their customer base. The negotiation should give room for all parties to survive,” Wong said.
Apart from investigating if channel operators had discriminated against new cable operators through differential pricing schemes, the commission would also investigate if the cable operators discriminated against certain channels by refusing to include them in their channel lineup, Wong said.
Cable operators must not suspend their services because of the dispute with channel operators, he added.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS