CtiTV News and ETTV News were yesterday fined NT$300,000 each for violating the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) in its news programs.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) said that an episode of CtiTV’s talk show News Storm in April showed close-up footage of a cobra and a frog whose bodies still moved after being decapitated.
The program violated Article 18 of the act for failing to show the relevant content classification.
ETTV, on the other hand, was found to have aired news stories advertising the products of a specific restaurant in the evening news broadcast on April 25.
The channel was fined for violating Article 19 of the act, which requires that a clear separation between programs and commercials should be maintained.
Aside from CtiTV and ETTV, Chinese Television Systems was fined NT$15,000 for an episode of its entertainment show Power Sunday, in which the guests were forced to accept unwanted kisses if they lost a game.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the commission’s communication content department, said that the majority of members of an independent content review decided that the program had shown people being bullied and ridiculed. The program violated Article 21 of the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法) in airing content considered harmful to children and teenagers.
Meanwhile, On TV, the CTiTV variety channel, and Formosa TV were each asked to address problematic content appearing in their programs, without being penalized.
Ho said that Formosa TV was found to have improperly conducted embedded marketing in its TV series Feng Shui Family, in which it used children to advertise a particular brand of children’s snack. This was the first violation recorded after the government relaxed the regulations on product placement in TV programs.
Though the program did not highlight the product, encouraged its consumption or introduced it in ways that affected the program’s production, Ho said that the program should not take advantage of children’s credulity and their influence on parents to help promote certain products.
Ho said that the rule restricting the embedded marketing of products for children does not only apply to children’s programs, but also to other programs. Meanwhile, programs should not practice embedded marketing to attack competing products or services.
In other developments, the commission announced that it would abandon an amendment to the Telecommunications Act (電信法) and would instead start drafting a digital convergence act (數位匯流法) that would combine the Telecommunications Act and three broadcasting acts.
The announcement came after the Executive Yuan twice rejected the amendment to the Telecommunications Act.
NCC spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said that the commission is scheduled to submit the draft of the digital convergence act next year.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS