The National Communications Commission (NCC) is to establish a special task force to examine financial statements of cable television systems after Net Wave Cable Systems Co was found to have failed to list subscription fee revenues in its accounts over the past 10 years.
NCC commissioners at the agency’s weekly meeting yesterday ruled that Net Wave be fined NT$4 million (US$143,451) for contravening the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法).
Financial problems at the cable system operator, which serves subscribers in Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正) and Wanhua (萬華) districts, were exposed last year following an allegation that the management had embezzled NT$130 million of subscription fees.
In April last year, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office launched an investigation into Net Wave chairman Lee Hsi-chin (李錫欽) and his wife, as well as other managers who were allegedly involved in the scandal.
Due to financial problems at Net Wave, the NCC in May granted the cable system a one-year operating license after reviewing its license renewal application.
NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the commission also launched an administrative investigation last month.
From 2011 to 2020, the company did not list subscription fee revenues in its financial statements, Wong said, adding that the unlisted funds totaled NT$168 million.
Net Wave was fined NT$1.5 million for contravening Article 44 of the act, which requires cable system operators to follow the accounting system and its standard procedures enacted by the central regulatory agency, Wong said.
The commission fined the company an additional NT$2 million for contravening Article 45 of the act, which requires cable system operators to set aside 1 percent of their annual operating revenue and submit it to the NCC for the establishment of a special fund.
Lee was also fined NT$500,000 for contravening Article 15 of the Administrative Penalty Act (行政罰法) by his mismanagement of the cable system, Wong said.
The company had retroactively listed revenues from 2011 to 2020 in last year’s financial statement, the commission said, adding that it has paid NT$1.54 million in accordance with Article 45 of the act.
“We have also asked Net Wave to find a new chairperson and two new overseers to replace current ones by Aug. 30. Overseers should have backgrounds in law and accounting,” Wong said, adding that this was the first time that the commissioners had asked a cable operator to change its management.
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