The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it would ask Dai Yung-hui (戴永輝), the largest shareholder of New Taipei City-based Dafeng TV (大豐電視), to answer questions about its acquisition of Taiwan Broadband Communications (TBC) last year, the third-largest multiple system operator in the nation.
In February last year, Dai acquired TBC by securing 65 percent of the shares of the Asian Pay Television Trust — which owns Taiwan Broadband — from the trust’s largest shareholder, Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘).
The transaction was approved by the Fair Trade Commission on Nov. 4 last year and awaits final approval from the NCC.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
Once securing the final approval, Dai would own eight cable systems in Taiwan — three he currently owns and five under TBC.
The number of TBC subscribers would reach 960,000, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the market.
The commission held a public hearing and an administrative hearing over the case in August and September last year.
“We would ask Dai to clarify some information for us, such as how he plans to lower TBC’s debt ratio and what his vision would be in managing so many cable systems,” NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
Meanwhile, the commission is investigating a tip offered by former New Power Party legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who accused Lu of lying about the source of the funding he used to purchase the trust in 2016.
While Lu has said he purchased the trust by himself without funding from third parties, Huang said on Facebook that part of the funding came from Fubon Financial Holding chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), who owns Kbro Co, the second-largest multiple system operator in Taiwan.
Tsai not only invested in Taiwan Broadband, but he was also deeply involved in the management of the company, Huang said.
“This matter is important, because it has allowed Tsai to control more than one-third of the cable television service market, an outright contravention of Article 24, Section 1 of the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法),” he said. “It would disrupt the order of the cable service market and hurt the public interest.”
The Chinese-language United Daily News on Tuesday reported that the NCC had interviewed Tsai and Lu as part of the investigation.
However, Wong was reluctant to confirm details of the report.
“We are conducting an administrative investigation in accordance with the Cable Radio and Television Act. The commission would announce the results to the public after commissioners confirm the findings,” he said.
In other news, the commission yesterday said that it would soon hold an information session on the criteria that it has been using to define a cable television service.
The commission would also use these criteria to determine if Taiwan Broadband was offering unlicensed cable services in Hualien last year and whether it is subject to punishment.
While the company — which is affiliated with Taiwan Mobile and Kbro — said what it offered was an over-the-top service, the commission received a tip that it was actually a cable service, in which people could only access the TV channels that Taiwan Broadband promised by subscribing to its service.
“The commissioners as well as the experts we have consulted agreed that a cable service should be a closed system, in which operators have full control,” Wong said.
“We also agreed that a cable service should meet the following three criteria: One, subscribers can access channel packages comparable to those for cable services. Two, operators would provide specific set-top boxes for subscribers to access the channels. Three, operators would bundle channels with the set-top boxes when promoting the service to customers,” he said.
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