Subscribers of Chunghwa Telecom’s multimedia-on-demand (MOD) services are to be able to watch home shopping channels following a decision by the National Communications Commission last week.
Established in 2003, the MOD system is an open Internet platform and does not discriminate against broadcasters in its channel lineup.
However, MOD subscribers cannot view several popular cable channels and home shopping networks, as the networks fear a backlash from cable operators which compete with MOD, and choose not to have their channels aired on the system.
Although the nation’s terrestrial television networks broadcast their programs on the MOD system, some of the programs cannot be viewed by subscribers due to contracts between the networks and cable operators.
Chunghwa cannot launch its own channels due to the regulations banning government investment in media outlets, political parties and the military. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications holds about a 35 percent stake in the telecom.
Chunghwa Telecom chairman Cheng Yu (鄭優) has been seeking to overcome the obstacles facing the MOD system since he assumed the position in December last year.
The competition between MOD and cable systems recently came under scrutiny due to a dispute over the broadcast of World Baseball Classic games. MOD subscribers were unable to watch the games on the Public Television Service (PTS) because the channel has not paid for the right to have the games aired on Internet protocol television. MOD subscribers were shown other PTS programs while the channel aired the games on cable.
Cheng protested the practice, saying that cable subscribers can watch PTS programs only because PTS is among the cable system’s must-carry channels.
Commission spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the commission respects the market in terms of content authorization.
However, Wong said that PTS was reluctant to buy the right to air programming on Internet protocol
TV because Chunghwa was obligated to broadcast content provided by non-commercial television channels without asking for any compensation from the subscribers.
The regulation, Wong said, made the channels less likely to buy Internet protocol TV rights, as it meant that viewers cannot be charged for watching the content.
Wong said that the commission decided to change the regulation at last week’s meeting, allowing the company to charge its MOD subscribers.
The commission also decided that home shopping networks that have been in operation since 2015 can be aired on the MOD system, after amendments to the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) were approved by the Legislative Yuan in December 2015.
The commission has yet to approve a proposal by Cheng to let the company establish its own channels, Wong said, adding that it needs to study the legal ramifications of the proposed move.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard