The government is to postpone the implementation of a tiered-pricing policy for cable operators until 2021 due to a lack of complementary measures, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Monday.
The announcement came less than a month after the commission had passed an amendment to next year’s pricing standards.
“Many local government officials are next month to start reviewing cable subscription fees for next year. [Implementing the tiered-pricing policy next year] would impose a very tight schedule on cable operators and local governments,” Planning Department specialist Wang Po-shun (王柏珣) said.
“The commission also lacks a complete set of complementary measures to implement the policy. As such, we have decided to postpone the enforcement of the policy for another year,” Wang added.
Local officials have been notified that they should use the old pricing standards, rather than those passed by the commission last month, to review next year’s cable subscription fees, Wang said.
The commission is also drafting regulations governing subscription fees, standardized contracts, content authorization fees and other items, it said.
Cable operators are to follow the tiered-pricing policy when proposing subscription fees for 2021, which would be reviewed by either the commission or local government officials next year.
Based on the pricing standards passed last month, each cable operator must provide at least two basic channel packages from which subscribers may choose.
The first package must have the 13 required channels as stated in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有限廣播電視法), including terrestrial TV stations and the Public Television Service, with the price capped at NT$200 per month.
The other package must have been approved by the commission in the previous year and have the most subscribers, the standards say.
This package generally includes more than 100 channels that are viewed by most cable subscribers, with the price capped at NT$600 per month, the commission said.
Content on both packages are to be broadcast in high definition (HD) or super-HD quality.
In addition to the two basic packages, cable operators can offer other packages or allow consumers to pay for individual channels, known as an “a la carte” plan, the commission said.
A source familiar with the commission’s operations said that the sudden change of heart might have had something to do with the elections to be held on Jan. 11 next year.
“Why would the commission implement a policy that would offend cable operators at this time?” the source said.
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