Jaw Shaw-kong’s (趙少康) plan to split the assets at Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) suffered a major setback when the National Communications Commission (NCC) rejected the firm’s application again yesterday.
Commission spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said Jaw and his associates purchased the station in 2006 and promised it would become a publicly traded firm within two years.
Jaw has yet to fulfill this promise, Chen said.
According to Chen, Jaw had said he wanted to focus on the radio station and had no intention of managing the properties he gained in the deal.
“The NCC conditionally approved the purchase in 2006 because it was then a company that had assets of more than NT$3 billion(US$97 million),” Chen said. “An asset management firm would reduce the BCC’s total assets to NT$250 million, making the situation very different from the one we agreed upon.”
“Given Jaw’s failure to deliver on his promise and the company’s pending property lawsuits with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the National Communication Commission members unanimously agreed to maintain the ruling we made last year and reject the company’s application to divide its assets,” Chen said.
Jaw had also promised he would return the two national radio networks after the commission assigned them to new radio operators. However, he has not done so because the commission has yet to host the bidding session for a new batch of radio licenses, Chen said.
Yesterday’s decision was seen as a major blow for Jaw.
In 2008, the BCC applied to issue new stocks and divide its assets by dividing the corporation into a radio company and an asset management company. In November last year, the commission approved the BCC’s application to issue new shares, but rejected its application to divide its assets
The BCC appealed the ruling to the Executive Yuan in December last year. In May, the Executive Yuan annulled the ruling and asked the commission to review the application again. The commission held a hearing in August and invited Jaw, media researchers and others to give their opinions.
The BCC purchase has a troubled history. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) sold the BCC to the China Times Group subsidiary Jungli Investment Co in 2005 for NT$9.3 billion. China Television Co and the Central Motion Picture Corp were included in the deal. However, the deal was later canceled after the China Times Group couldn’t pay the full amount.
In 2006, Hua Hsia Investment Holding Co, which is owned by the KMT, sold the BCC to Jaw.
In other developments, Azio TV was fined NT$1 million for violating the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) by failing to separate commercials from its regular programs.
Chen said the hosts of a cooking program on Azio had discussed the functions of cooking pots used in the program and told the audiences where they could purchase them.
“As they committed similar violations on 21 occasions in the past two years, the penalty will be heavier this time,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, Chen said the commission was planning to make provision of digital cable TV service mandatory by amending the Cable Television Act (有線廣播電視法). The government wants to boost the penetration rate of digital cable service from 7 percent to 50 percent by 2015.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
RSS