The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday fined TVBS and two other TV channels for airing violent content in general rating hours.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the penalties were recommended by an independent content review committee, formed by experts not affiliated with the commission.
TVBS was fined NT$300,000 for airing an online video clip showing Japanese and South Koreans eating live octopuses. The scene showed gourmands wrapping the legs of octopuses around chopsticks and putting them into their months or simply swallowing them.
Chen said that 10 of 19 experts at the meeting said the content of the video had violated Article 9 of the Regulations Governing the Classification of Television Programs (電視節目分級處理辦法), because it contained “language and behavior easily contributing to the physical and mental detriment of children” and the video was therefore inappropriate for general rating hours.
While the channel broadcast the video about a cultural phenomenon that many people had already seen online, the commission said the content should have been modified to comply with the nation’s regulations on program classification.
TVBS said it would appeal the fine after it receives the official ruling from the commission.
Meanwhile, Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視) and China Television (CTV, 中視) were fined NT$210,000 and NT$300,000 respectively, for broadcasting violent content in a couple of television series produced in China.
CTS was penalized for airing the series My Fair Princess II (新還珠格格). In one of the episodes, a maid in a palace was repeatedly and brutally tortured by her peers.
Experts on the content review committee said the violent scenes may have had a harmful impact on children and that they could cause them to imitate the program by committing harmful acts on themselves or others, adding that the episode should not be aired in either the general or protected rating hours.
CTV was fined for airing an episode of All Men Are Brothers (水滸傳) in which the main character, Wu Song (武松), kills his sister-in-law and is later engaged in a fight with her lover.
The committee identified several scenes it deemed inappropriate for both the general and protected rating periods, including when Wu stabs his sister-in-law in the chest, as well as a close-up shot of his bleeding arms.
CTV was fined when the episode first aired on Aug. 10. It was penalized again when the episode was rerun on the same channel five days later.
In related news, two channels of the CTiTV network (中天) were asked to improve their operations within three months after the commission conducted midterm evaluations on both the channels.
Chen said CTi News Channel had passed the evaluation, but the commission asked it to address several issues, including the fact that it had tended to blur the lines between programs and commercials.
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