The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that its proposed amendments to the regulations governing infomercials would give TV stations clear instructions on the “dos and don’ts,” adding it would set stricter standards on news and children’s programs.
A public hearing was hosted by the commission yesterday on the proposed amendments.
The regulations on infomercials were formulated to help authorities determine if TV operators had violated Article 19 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) or Article 33 of the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), which stipulate programs must be distinguishable from advertisements.
The commission said it decided to revise the regulations because the broadcasting media environment has undergone drastic changes in the past decade.
Statistics from the commission showed it has collected approximately NT$80 million (US$2.6 million) in penalties from TV and radio stations for failing to clearly separate the programs and advertisements. To avoid punishment, many TV stations would pixelate logos of products appearing in the news.
Aside from providing clearer definitions of certain terms and phrases, the proposed amendments also set out several factors to be used to determine if a TV operator has violated the broadcasting acts, including titles, participants, props, settings and content of the programs.
The proposed amendments suggest that if a program shows the logo, slogans and contact information of a specific and recognizable company through any of these factors, and attempt to encourage and influence the consumption of the company’s products, the TV station should be penalized for blurring the lines between programs and advertisements.
Shih Hsin University associate professor Mike Kwan (關尚仁), who participated in drafting the proposed amendments, said the amendments set strict standards to evaluate news and children’s programs with the intention of keeping them untainted by advertisements.
However, the proposed amendments are lenient on sports, arts and public interest programs, because advertising revenue could help fund such programs.
The public hearing was attended by representatives of some of the nation’s major TV stations.
Among some of their complaints, Satellite Television Broadcasting Association executive director Chen Shou-guo (陳守國) said that while the commission had tried to reduce the use of pixelated images by revising the law, the proposed amendments would actually increase their use.
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