The National Communications Commission (NCC) last week approved a new version of the draft media monopolization prevention and diversity act, which defines the conditions under which media merger deals would be vetoed by the commission.
Any cable provider whose subscribers exceed more than 20 percent of cable subscribers nationwide would be banned from merging with terrestrial television stations, nationwide radio broadcasters or daily newspapers circulating nationwide, the commission said.
They would also be banned from operating news or financial news channels, it added.
To ensure the diversity of opinions, media owners and their associates are to be barred from acquiring or owning more than three of the following media outlets: cable systems; multimedia-on-demand (MOD) platforms; terrestrial television networks; nationwide radio services; news and financial news channels; and daily newspapers with nationwide distribution, the commission said.
Agents representing channels that own three of the listed media outlets would also be barred, it added.
Mergers between channels or cable systems that would allow any media outlet’s market share to reach 33 percent would be blocked by the commission, according to the draft act.
As a majority of the public obtains information mainly through news or financial news channels, mergers that would enable any media outlet to own five or more nationwide news channels would be vetoed as well, the draft act stipulates.
Terrestrial TV networks would be banned from merging with one another as their broadcast signals are transmitted through radio waves and people can access them by installing antennas, which the commission deemed as having influence over public opinion.
Media owners can rest assured that their applications would be approved by the commission as long as they do not cross the “red lines,” the commission said.
“We would exercise our administrative authority when reviewing different cases, taking into account whether the case would enhance or harm public interest,” the commission said, adding that it is also entitled to include conditional clauses in each ruling, as stated in the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法).
The previous draft act on media monopolization proposed by the NCC secured preliminary approval from the legislature’s Transportation Committee in 2013 following a series of protests against media monopolization.
However, the Cabinet last year retracted the bill before it could be promulgated.
NCC Chairwoman Nicole Chan (詹婷怡) said in an interview that the commission revised the bill because the media industry has undergone significant changes since 2013, including the rise in popularity of over-the-top content providers.
Eighty percent of the content in the new draft act is the same as the previous one, NCC Legal Department Director Andy Hsieh (謝煥乾) said.
The new draft act would tackle the problems created by agents representing different channels, which would be required to register their businesses with the NCC and provide their contracts with the channels upon request, Hsieh said.
The measure is to ensure that all channels are treated fairly and equally when they are being considered in their line-up on the cable system, he said.
The new draft act does not regulate acquisitions of online media, but NCC commissioners could consider the influence of online media on public opinion when they review mergers, Hsieh said.
The new draft act also stipulates that financial institutions must not control the personnel, finance and businesses of a media outlet through direct or indirect shareholding, Hsieh said, adding that a financial institution would be deemed as controlling a media outlet if it directly holds more than 10 percent of the outlet’s shares.
A financial institution would also be viewed as violating the principle if indirect shareholding allows it to directly control a media outlet, he added.
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