The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that it has accepted the request from cable system operator TaipeiNet (北都) for arbitration over a dispute with the cable channel agent Yung Hsin Multimedia (永鑫多媒體).
Yung Hsin had threatened to suspend broadcast of HBO and six other popular channels as of Monday if TaipeiNet did not pay its required content authorization fees in full.
Yung Hsin also represents Cinemax, Fox Sports, Fox Sports 2, CNN and the Cartoon Network.
Yung Hsin officials yesterday told reporters that it cannot stop broadcasting the channel after TaipeiNet asked the commission to arbitrate the dispute.
Although no timetable has been set for arbitration, the commission has asked Yung Hsin and TaipeiNet not to unilaterally suspend broadcasts of any of the seven channels while the issue is in arbitration.
The commission yesterday said that it is arbitrating three other disputes over content authorization fees involving TaipeiNet and DigiDom Cable TV (全國數位電視).
TaipeiNet insisted that it pay the content authorization fee based on the actual number of households subscribing to its cable service and be given a 40 percent discount, which it said is a common practice in the market, a source familiar with the dispute said that.
Yung Hsin said the fee should be calculated on the number of households registered in the administrative area, the source said.
The commission earlier this month fined TaipeiNet NT$100,000 (US$3266.80) for failing to air Yoyo TV and Videoland’s Max-TV for 11 hours due to a dispute over content authorization fees with cable channel agent Da Hsiang (大享).
Last week, TaipeiNet was forced to remove Z Channel, LS Movie Channel, JET TV, and GoldSun TV and replace them with other channels following a dispute with agent Hao Ming (浩鳴).
Platform and Business Department deputy director Tsai Kuo-tung (蔡國棟) said the commission would soon convene a meeting aimed at settling the TaipeiNet-Yung Hsin dispute after it completes administrative procedures.
Asked whether the meeting would actually help resolve the dispute, Tsai said that a recent Supreme Administrative Court ruling that lifted the fine of NT$41 million handed down to Kbro Co (凱擘) by the Fair Trade Commission in 2016 could change the chemistry of on-going negotiations.
Those who had failed to sort out their differences through the NCC arbitration might want to change the terms now and renegotiate following the court’s ruling, he said.
The FTC in 2016 fined Kbro and two other channel agents for contravening the Fair Trade Act for treating new and existing cable system operators differently, which it deemed to be a move to restrict the competition in the market.
All three of them filed a lawsuit to appeal the penalty.
“New cable system operators have been using the FTC decision to refuse to pay the requested amount of content authorization fee, now they might have different thoughts,” Tsai said.
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