After being flooded with complaints by viewers, the Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday said it would "closely" monitor TV stations broadcasting the World Cup to ensure they don't insert more advertisements than are legally permissible.
"We generally monitor how TV channels insert adverts, but we started doing it more carefully after viewers suggested earlier this month that TV channels might be violating regulations by inserting too many," Hong Chong-jan (
The GIO is in charge of managing and monitoring TV station ads under the Broadcast and Television Law (
Hong added that it is easy to establish whether the channels insert too many ads, and that they haven't found any violations thusfar.
Based on the law, TV stations are entitled to insert ten minutes worth of advertisements per hour. Violators can be fined by the GIO.
Audiences have complained that the two channels, Much TV and Era, which both belong to the Era group, have been inserting extra adverts during World Cup matches. They said that the ads had cause them to miss crucial game play, including goals.
A manager from ERA, however, denied over-inserting advertisements. "We have inserted the advertisements by following GIO regulations," said a manager from ERA, who refused to be identified.
The two channels have adopted the practice of splitting the screen into two to insert advertisements while the game continues in the smaller of the two frames.
The manager emphasized that the practice proves that they are indeed concerned about pleasing audiences and protecting their rights.
"During the 1998 and 1994 World Cups, TV stations simply interrupted the broadcast to screen adverts.
"We have paid enormous sums of money to broadcast the games and we have no choice but to insert advertisements to make a profit," he said.
According to Chinese-language newspapers, the two channels paid NT$160 million to broadcast the World Cup.
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