After a review of almost a year, the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved a change of management at TVBS Media, with three conditions, including that the cable television network must recruit a media professional to be its new president.
TVBS submitted a management change application in August last year after VIA Technologies chairman Chen Wen-chi (陳文琦) was elected by its board of directors to be the network’s president and chairman.
Chen is the husband of HTC Corp founder Cher Wang (王雪紅), who purchased the network from Hong Kong-based Television Broadcasts in 2016. The couple own a majority of TVBS Media shares.
The commission’s first condition is that Chen must not serve as chairman and president simultaneously, and the network must recruit a new president with extensive media experience within a month after the posted date of the ruling, whose employment must win commission approval, NCC spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said.
Second, TVBS Media’s chairman and president must sign an editorial code of ethics with its news department within one week of a new president being hired, and it must submit a copy of the code to the commission, Hsiao said.
Third, the network must fulfill its promise to add an outside director to its board, someone with a background in journalism and no holdings in the company, within six months after the posted date of the ruling, Hsiao said.
Should it fail to meet any of these conditions, the commission could nullify its approval, based on the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法), Hsiao added.
TVBS’ application was approved under these conditions as the management would determine if the network can operate independently and professionally, the commission said.
NCC commissioners had asked Chen, network vice chairman Arthur Ting (丁廣鋐) and other managers to meet with them and answer questions, it added.
The commission also asked the network to hold regular board meetings and other meetings, according to the laws governing corporate management, and to provide the commission with a copy of the minutes of the board meetings.
The network should also abide by regulations governing cross-strait exchange and related party disclosures, it said.
As part of its review, the commission asked TVBS Media to provide a formal explanation of its removal of an interview with American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty from its Web site after broadcasting it just once before the nine-in-one local elections in November 2018.
The commission’s investigation also found that the network held a board meeting on June 30, nearly a year after Chen was elected chairman.
Local media reported that TVBS was one of the Taiwanese media outlets that attended the fourth “Cross-Strait Media People Summit” in May last year in Beijing, where Chinese officials reiterated that the media’s responsibility was to promote peaceful unification across the Taiwan Strait and the “one country, two systems” model.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
RSS