CTi Asia, a satellite channel of CTi TV that previously aired in the US and Southeast Asian nations, has applied to broadcast in Taiwan, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said the commission has yet to approve CTi TV’s application, adding that it has invited the network’s management to a meeting next week to answer questions from commissioners.
The commissioners’ questions would focus on programs that are to be aired on CTi Asia, as well as its financial status, Wong said, adding that they would also ask if the channel has plans to recruit additional personnel.
The network’s application, which was filed in August last year, states that Cti Asia is a variety channel, with news accounting for 50 percent of its programming.
The channel’s mission statement is “to bring people of Chinese descent closer to the world,” the commission said.
The channel would be aired on Chunghua Telecom’s multimedia-on-demand system if it secures a local broadcasting license, it said, adding that so far the entire channel has only 20 full-time staff.
The NCC on July 15 rejected CTi Variety’s plan to air news programs and political talk shows, saying a variety channel should primarily produce and broadcast variety shows and TV dramas.
Meanwhile, executives of SET TV News are to visit the NCC next week, as the commission is conducting a midterm evaluation of the channel’s performance from 2017 to last year.
The network’s management is expected to face questions about the channel’s frequent use of online videos and wire stories as sources of news, its fact-checking mechanism and news department operations, the NCC said.
Between 2017 and last year, the channel received two warnings and was fined 10 times, with total fines of more than NT$3.34 million (US$210,395), NCC data showed.
In other news, the commission confirmed that National Geographic has applied to stop airing five cable channels on Oct. 1, including Fox Crime, Fox Family Movies, FX, Channel V and Nat Geo People.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS