The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it has invited Mirror TV’s management to a meeting next month to answer questions about its plan to set up a cable news channel.
Mirror Media submitted an application to set up a Mirror TV news channel in December 2019, but the commission did not begin reviewing the application until January this year.
NCC commissioners yesterday resumed the review after the news channel in May submitted a new list of board directors and other supplementary materials. They ruled that the review be continued, and invited Mirror TV’s management to a meeting at the NCC on Dec. 1 to answer questions from commissioners.
“We hope to communicate directly with the news channel’s management about our concerns over its shareholding structure, as well as its business plan, once it is allowed to broadcast on cable,” NCC Chief Secretary Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) said.
NCC Department of Broadcasting and Content specialist Chen Shu-ming (陳書銘) said that none of the directors serving on the board holds any share in the news channel, which is very different from other TV networks in Taiwan.
Commissioners want Mirror TV’s management to explain how the news channel would operate having zero-shareholding board directors and shareholders, Chen Shu-ming said.
Commissioners would also inquire about the source of the channel’s funding, given its pledge to dedicate resources to the production of international news and investigative reports, he said.
Public records showed that the channel’s chairman is former Ta Chong Bank chairman Chen Chien-ping (陳建平). The other five board directors are Taiwanese film and television director Yang Ya-che (楊雅?;), former Paper Windmill Cultural Foundation CEO Lee Yung-feng (李永豐), former Formosa News political news director Lu Yu-lin (盧宥伶) and former Accton Technology chairman Huang An-jie (黃安捷). Its supervisor is Liu Chih-peng (劉志鵬).
In other news, Eastern Broadcasting Co’s (EBC) management is to meet with NCC commissioners next week to explain why it needs more time to fulfill its pledges, which it made in 2018 to secure approval for its ownership change.
EBC’s current owner had made 14 pledges, but later said it was having difficulty meeting two of them, NCC officials said.
One was increasing the budget by NT$900 million (US$32.36 million) over six years to fund the production of international news, children’s programs, entertainment shows, TV series and TV movies on the network’s channels.
The network asked to extend the deadline for this pledge from 2023 to 2025, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted its production schedule, leaving it with only five years to fulfill the commitment, the commission said.
The other pledge was to spend NT$42 million annually from 2018 to this year to produce 4K high-definition programs, it said.
EBC asked for an extension of the deadline to next year, as its financial statement this year would not be audited by accountants until March next year, it said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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