The Taiwan agents of the popular cable TV channel HBO announced a plan yesterday to avoid further uproar among TV viewers, while uneasy negotiations continued between cable TV operators and channel agents for license renewals.
Representatives from TV Time Entertainment Networks, Inc (
HBO's current license expires on Jan. 8.
Tu Teh-yen (
The company may also consider running commercials on the HBO channel to cut prices and make negotiations easier, said Wu Chih-ching (
Meanwhile, Chao made an appeal to the public to give him some more time to work out solutions.
Chao, a former CEO of two local cable TV stations, has come under criticism for his perceived inability to effectively handle the dispute, seen as due largely to his long-term involvement in the electronic media business before his appointment as GIO chief a month ago.
A report in the chinese-language press said yesterday that Chao, former CEO of Global TV (
Meanwhile, local governments yesterday continued to talk tough to cable TV operators that shifted or stopped broadcasting certain channels.
Kaohsiung City Government's Department of Information issued an ultimatum yesterday to local cable TV firm Tahsin (大信) to resume broadcasting or face a NT$500,000 fine. In Taipei County, the county government slapped NT$100,000 fines on two cable TV operators in Hsintien and Sanchung cities.
Meanwhile, officials from the Fair Trade Commission said they had arrived at an initial conclusion that joint sales operations by some cable TV firms in central and southern Taiwan violate the Fair Trade Law.
About 80 percent of Taiwan's cable TV market is controlled by two conglomerates, Eastern Multimedia and United Communications. The annual price wars between the two groups and independent channel agents, and the resulting channel shifts and suspensions, have now become a yearly ritual across Taiwan.
Since the early 1990s, the number of cable companies nationwide has shrunk from 600 to the current level of about 70.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
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