The National Communications Commission (NCC) is considering again postponing the implementation of a tiered-pricing scheme for cable operators, as it has not finalized some key support measures related to the policy, the commission said on Tuesday.
“The cable service market would descend into chaos if there are no mechanisms to arbitrate disputes over content authorization fees or to govern the distribution of profits between channel operators and cable operators,” NCC chairman-designate Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said.
“We hope that these mechanisms are in place first” before the policy is implemented, Chen said.
Chen, whose nomination for NCC chair has been approved by the Legislative Yuan, is to take office next month.
NCC officials said that the commission is unlikely to complete all of the support measures before the end of this year, making it nearly impossible for it to enforce a tiered-pricing policy next year.
The commission was to implement the policy this year after passing pricing standards in June last year.
However, less than a month later, it announced that it would push the implementation to next year, as it lacked a complete set of complementary measures.
Local government officials every August are required to review cable operators’ proposed service fees for the following year, so implementing a tiered-pricing scheme this year would create a tight deadline for operators and officials, the commission said.
Based on the pricing standards the NCC approved last year, each operator must provide at least two basic channel packages.
The first package must have the 13 “must-carry” channels required under the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法), including terrestrial TV stations and Public Television Service, with the price for such packages capped at NT$200 per month.
The other package — which the NCC must approve the year before — would have the most subscribers and generally include more than 100 channels. Those packages are capped at NT$600 per month.
Cable service operators can also offer other packages or allow people to pay for individual channels, the commission said.
“Even though a tiered policy is not in place, all of the major multiple-system operators already offer channel packages following such a principle,” Chen said.
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