The Fair Trade Commission yesterday fined the nation's two largest karaoke chains -- Holiday Entertainment Co (
The two KTV giants were fined, according to Article 14 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法), for signing exclusive karaoke deals with a local music distributor in late 2002. The commission said the deal appeared to crimp business opportunities for other music distributors.
Violators who do not rectify their conduct after being ordered to do so can be punished by up to three years' imprisonment or detention, or by a fine of not more than NT$100 million, or by both.
Commission Vice Chairman Chen Chi-yuan (陳紀元) said both companies appeared to have halted their misconduct in the second half of last year, but the commission will closely monitor the situation.
Holiday and Cash Box decided in December 2002 to jointly purchase music videos through a Holiday affiliate, Young Sound Multimedia Co (揚聲多媒體), the nation's largest music video distributor.
The deal accounted for 60 percent of the music-video authorization value in Taiwan, the commission said in a statement, adding that Holiday and Cash Box made up to 41 percent of the nation's karaoke market.
Other local music distributors, including MDS Multimedia Corp (弘音多媒體) and Meihua Multimedia Technology Co (美華影音), expres-sed concern over the deal. At the time they said the deal would force record companies seeking to sell to the the two KTV chains to cooperate solely with Young Sound.
Last month the commission fined Young Sound NT$3.5 million for discriminating in favor of Holiday and Cash Box.
The two karaoke chains have a combined annual revenue of more than NT$7 billion.
Cash Box may appeal the ruling, its spokesman Tsai Yi-ming (蔡易明) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
He said Cash Box turned to Young Sound because the KTV chain was involved in several civil lawsuits with MDS Multimedia and Meihua Multimedia at the time.
MDS Multimedia and Meihua Multimedia resumed supplying Cash Box after reaching an agreement in the second half of last year, Cash Box said in a statement.
Holiday's spokesman Jack Yung (
Cash Box bought a 32-percent stake in Holiday in January last year and considered merging with Holiday at the end of last year as a way of cutting costs while expanding market share.
But the merger plan was sus-pended after Cash Box failed to deliver the necessary documents to Holiday by a Nov. 17 deadline last year.
The Fair Trade Commission gave approval to the planned merger deal last July but the permission expired on Jan. 1.
A Cash Box official, who asked not to be named, said the merger deal may not go through this year.
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS