The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday ruled that six cable television operators must either keep their monthly service fees unchanged or reduce them next year.
The ruling came after the review of rate plans for next year submitted by the cable television operators, including Nantien and Hsin Yeong An in Tainan County, CYC Cable Corp in Chiayi City, Penghu in Penghu County, Mingcheng in Kinmen County and Hsiangtung in Matsu.
All of them proposed to raise monthly service charges next year, citing an increase in payments to the television channel operators and losses of advertising revenues as main reasons.
NCC commissioners said the monthly service charges of Nantien, Hsin Yeong An, Mingcheng and Hsiangtung for next year should be the same as this year. CYC Cable and Penghu were asked to reduce their monthly service charges by NT$20.
In general, local governments are in charge of reviewing the monthly service fees of cable television operators. The NCC is responsible for reviewing the rates of these six operators because the county or the city where these operators are located do not have any specific agencies to review the rates.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the committee that reviewed the rates was comprised of experts and college professors who are not affiliated with the NCC.
As Nantien and Hsin Yeong An of Kbro Co have proposed detailed plans to provide their customers with a digital cable television service, both were asked to keep the service charge at NT$540 per month, which is the same as this year, Chen said.
Having a service area in the city, CYC Cable was ordered to reduce the monthly service charge from NT$530 to NT$510 next year, as the operator has not taken steps to execute the government’s digital cable service policy. Chen said Penghu was also asked to drop the service charge from NT$560 to NT$540 per month because it has yet to raise the bandwidth from 550MHz to 750MHz.
Likewise, Mingcheng and Hsiangtung were ordered to keep their fees unchanged, as they were deemed too sluggish in installing the new infrastructure in their respective service areas, he said.
“If the operators actually make efforts to provide digital services or improve the quality of their programs, we could consider allowing them to increase the fees slightly in 2011,” Chen said. “Otherwise, why should we let them raise the fees if the quality of their programs never changes?”
A television channel representative who spoke on condition of anonymity applauded the decision, saying it could set a precedent for local governments to follow.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS