The Cabinet's request that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) release the party's stakes in China Television (CTV) is not politically motivated, despite the KMT's accusations, the Cabinet said yesterday.
"I'm calling on the KMT to stop politicizing a simple issue, as we're doing everything in accordance with the law," Minister of the Government Information Office (GIO) Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told a press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting yesterday morning. "It's not a political issue, but a legal problem, as the Cabinet today approved the draft bill regulating the release of government shares in state-controlled terrestrial TV stations."
The KMT should abide by the law, as the Cabinet will do the same with China Television System (CTS) and Taiwan Television (TTV), Lin added.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The government owns 75.04 percent of CTS and 47.39 percent of TTV. The government's stakes in both companies long predate the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
The KMT owns a 65 percent share of CTV and has a 10 percent stake in TTV. It also has a majority of shares in the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC).
The Cabinet has requested that the KMT present a plan regarding the release of the party's stakes in CTV and TTV, where it possesses a 10 percent stake, before the end of this month and get rid of them before the end of next year.
The GIO has made it clear that it would not renew BCC's operating license, which is due to expire at the end of this month because it violates the Broadcasting and Television Law (
The GIO will issue a three-month temporary license to BCC if the station fails a final annual review. As the BCC failed the first round of the license renewal evaluation, it will have to go through the third and final round if it fails the second review tomorrow.
The BCC, which accounts for 25 percent of the AM frequency stations and 13.96 percent of FM frequency stations, failed the first round of review because it had reneged on its pledge to return two or three of its channels to the GIO.
KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (
The Broadcasting and Television Law -- which was passed last December and integrates the Terrestrial Radio and Television Law of 1976, the Cable, Radio and Television Law of 1993 and the Satellite Radio and Television Law of 1999 -- stipulates that political parties are no longer allowed to manage media outlets.
The legislation also requires that the Cabinet present a draft bill on government shares in TTV and CTS six months after the law takes effect. The release of government stakes in government or party-controlled terrestrial TV stations and radio stations should be completed by Dec. 26 next year.
Under the Cabinet's draft bill approved yesterday, the GIO would cut back or stop its annual subsidy to state-run TV stations if they fail to perform their legal duties. An evaluation committee would be established under the draft to conduct the evaluation and another committee to supervise the release of government stakes in media outlets.
The draft also mandates that the Cabinet earmark annual funding to produce quality TV programs and broadcast them on the Public Television Service (PTS) or private terrestrial TV stations. The fund would come from the revenue surpluses of CTS and TTV.
The GIO has mapped out three possible scenarios for CTS and TTV. One possibility is to nationalize the two, another is to privatize them and the third is to privatize one of them and nationalize the other. The Cabinet might prefer to nationalize CTS first because it would cost less than nationalizing TTV.
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