The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it would decide next week whether to appeal its case against CTi TV to the Supreme Administrative Court after the Taipei High Administrative Court annulled part of the commission's ruling last year on a management change at the TV station.
Although the commission had approved applications by CTi and China Television (CTV) for changes in their chairpersons, board directors and supervisors, the approval came with four additional clauses and a request that CTi and CTV address a number of issues to improve their operations.
However, the two stations challenged the desirability of the additional clauses and filed administrative lawsuits. Last month, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled against the commission in its lawsuit against CTi.
The court has yet to rule on the CTV case.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the verdict came in a dauntingly voluminous document. Commissioners must closely examine the verdict to determine if the NCC should appeal or simply change the content of the additional clauses, he added.
Commissioner Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), a legal expert, said the NCC decided to impose the additional clauses over concerns about the impact the China Times Group, the owner of the two stations, would have on public opinion because it simultaneously owns a newspaper, a cable TV station and a terrestrial TV station, among others.
The additional clauses, issued last year, stated that individuals serving on the CTi board of directors and supervisors cannot hold the same positions at CTV. A similar requirement applies to employees in managerial positions at CTi.
CTi and CTV must have separate advertising and programming departments, as well as separate studios, and cannot jointly bid for advertising deals, the clauses said.
Each of CTi TV network's channels, including news, entertainment and variety channels, must all have their own producers and editors and submit plans on quality content control to the NCC, the clauses said.
“The court said the NCC has the administrative authority to issue additional clauses in addition to the main ruling,” Weng said. “However, it indicated that the facts and rationales supporting each clause were inadequate.”
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