Thirteen satellite television channels were yesterday fined NT$200,000 each for failing to reach the percentages required for Taiwan-produced programming and for reruns during prime-time hours, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said.
The amendment to the Regulations on Satellite Broadcasting Program Supplier Broadcasting Domestically Produced Program (衛星頻道節目供應事業播送本國節目管理辦法), which was passed at the end of last year, took effect in January.
The amendment targets TV series and variety shows aired between 8pm and 10pm, movies broadcast between 9pm and 11pm and children’s programming broadcast between 5pm and 7pm.
During these time slots, locally produced programs must account for no less than a quarter of the content. Reruns may only account for 60 percent of programming, while movie channels’ content can only run old programs 80 percent of the time.
The commission between January and June evaluated programs aired on 134 cable and multimedia-on-demand satellite channels, NCC spokesperson Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said, adding that it found that Eastern Super TV (東森超視) and 12 other channels had failed to meet the criteria.
San Da Cable TV Channel (三大一台) and documentary film station CNEX Channel (視納華仁) were given warnings.
The commission has tried to be lenient in issuing penalties to channels that fail to meet the regulations, as they only took effect this year, Weng said.
“We have considered the severity of each case and if the channel has taken actions to address the situation. We have also considered that it could take a year to plan the production of new series,” he said, adding that the commission would conduct a comprehensive evaluation after the regulations have been enforced for one year.
In related news, Weng said that the commission has launched an investigation into whether Sanlih TV News produced a fake story when it reported that former Democratic Progressive Party secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) frequented a private club in Taipei.
The station allegedly interviewed one of its own reporters as a source and reprimanded a news anchor for refusing to report the story.
The station admitted violating the journalistic code of ethics in an interview with the NCC on Tuesday, Weng said, adding that the commission has requested that the station’s own ethic committee first deliberate the case.
“The station must send a report to the NCC on the committee’s conclusion, which will then be reviewed by the commissioners,” he said.
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