Media watchdog the National Communications Commission (NCC) issued a statement yesterday saying that it had found Eastern Multimedia Co and 19 other cable service operators it invests in guilty of violating the law, which states that the government (including the military), political parties, or any member of the judiciary sponsored by the government, cannot directly or indirectly operate broadcasting and television enterprises.
The committee announced that it would give the companies a period of six months to rectify the situation as relevant laws were not yet in place.
This was the first case in which the issue of media ownership has been tackled since the commission began operating in March.
According to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法), Eastern and its cable service operators may be fined between NT$100,000 (US$ 3125) and NT$1 million if they fail to rectify the violations. The punishment can be applied more than once, and the channels' operating licenses can be revoked if things do not improve.
The violations were discovered when the commission was evaluating license renewal applications from cable and satellite service operators. When the commission began to trace the sources of funding of the companies, committee members found that Eastern Multimedia was the ultimate owner.
They also found that five percent of Eastern's shares are owned by Central Investment Holding Co, which is in turn owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
When reviewing the case, the committee found that the media laws as they stand only punish the media organizations, and not the investors, which was unreasonable. A further consensus was reached yesterday that a service operator can only renew its license once it is found to be fully compliant with all government regulations.
The ruling came after the commission's vice chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) told legislators on Wednesday that the commission would enforce laws to regulate 50 percent of underground radio stations.
So far, the commission has dealt with several controversial cases, including granting new licenses to LS Time, a movie channel, and ETTV-S, another TV station owned by Eastern Multimedia.
Last year, the Government Information Office rejected LS Time's application for a new operating license on the grounds that it had an "unsound financial structure."
ETTV-S' application, however, was not approved because half of its programs were not news-related, which contradicted the statement of purpose listed in its previous application.
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