CTi TV chairman Liao Li-sheng (廖麗生) has pledged to recruit more personnel for the network’s CTi Variety channel if it is given permission to broadcast news on the channel, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The network on Jan. 29 filed an application to change the business plan of its variety show channel, after the NCC rejected the license renewal application of CTi News on Nov. 18 last year.
However, NCC commissioners at the same meeting in November approved CTi Variety’s license renewal on condition that 75 percent of its programs be made in Taiwan.
The NCC yesterday began a preliminary review of CTi Variety’s proposed business plan changes, with Liao and other senior CTi News managers present to answer commissioners’ questions.
After hearing their statements, the commission decided it would continue the review of the application at another meeting.
NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said CTi Variety has planned to have an hour of news in the morning, at midday and in the evening, as well as a one-hour political talk show in the evening.
“The NCC and CTi TV had agreed during the meeting on Nov. 18 that the programs on CTi Variety should primarily be TV series and entertainment shows, with 75 percent of its programs being produced in Taiwan,” Wong said.
Liao told the commissioners that the variety show channel has 16 full-time employees, Wong said, adding that it plans to recruit 84 more people just to produce news programs.
The case was seen by industry observers as the network’s attempt to regain a foothold in the cable news market.
CTi News currently broadcasts programs on YouTube.
Taiwan has 16 variety show channels that also have news hours, NCC data showed.
In other news, the NCC announced that 14 popular smartphones in Taiwan have passed its information security certification test for their built-in applications, which smartphone manufacturers participated in voluntarily.
Wong said the certification tests were conducted from July last year to April.
The commission tested the most popular smartphones in the first and second quarters of last year, he said, adding that they were the iPhone 11, Sony Xperia 5, Samsung Galaxy A20, HTC Desire 19S, Asus Zenfone Max M2, Taiwan Mobile A55 and A57, Sugar C13, Redmi Note 8T, Huawei Y9 Prime 2019, Oppo A9 2020, Koobee S16, Realme XT and Vivo Y12.
The iPhone 11 secured the certification on its first inspection, while the rest did not pass until the second inspection, the NCC said.
Specialists at certification agencies tested the smartphones based on 10 criteria published by the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards, including that the device should secure users’ consent before accessing sensitive information from them, it said.
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