The National Communications Commission (NCC) on Thursday said that it would increase the frequency of random inspections of cable system operators this year to prevent them under-reporting the number of their subscribers, adding that it has entrusted a consulting firm with the task of finding the most cost-efficient way to collect the data.
The number of cable service subscribers nationwide dropped to a record low of 4.89 million in the third quarter of last year, commission statistics showed.
However, many have questioned the validity of the statistics, as the commission has in the past fined cable operators who have under-reported the number of their subscribers by excluding those subscribing to bundled services of broadband communications and cable systems.
Industry experts have said that cable operators have reason to doctor the number of their subscribers, as those serve as the basis of their negotiations over content authorization fees that they pay to channel operators.
The numbers also determine the share of funding that a cable system operator has to contribute to the Cable Radio and Television Development Fund, they said.
The commission said that it would increase the frequency of random inspections of cable system operators to more accurately gauge the number of subscribers as well as their market influence, adding that it would conduct the inspections in the most science-based and cost-effective way possible.
Control Yuan member Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) also expressed doubts about the statistics, saying that the NCC has no way of knowing if cable system operators under-report the number of their subscribers, because the information relies solely on documents provided by the operators themselves.
Nor does the commission have any way of finding out if large multiple service operators, through direct or indirect control of cable systems, have kept their subscribers to no more than one-third of the total cable service subscribers in the nation, she said.
One of the examples that the commission has given is that the subscribers of cable systems affiliated with Fubon Group, which includes Kbro, TWM Broadband, Cable-Giant CATV and Pingnan CATVm, account for 33.28 percent of the total market, which is very close to the cap set by the commission.
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