The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications.
The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June.
The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Time
The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners.
“We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and that they are not at fault for the delay in license renewal,” NCC Acting Chairman Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
The commission also told cable operators and Chunghwa Telecom’s multimedia-on-demand (MOD) system that they should maintain their channel lineup for the benefit and interests of their viewers, Chen said.
“As any adjustment in channel lineups have to be approved by NCC commissioners, cable and MOD system operators cannot take down any of these channels,” he added.
Among the channels whose licenses need to renewed, Taiwan Television, China Television, Chinese Television Service and PTS are terrestrial television stations, which hold special broadcasting licenses to transmit signals via government-designated frequencies.
The handling of terrestrial channels is more complicated than that of cable channels as the former are “must carry” channels on cable systems and the frequencies they use are managed by the Ministry of Digital Affairs.
“The ministry will not take back those frequencies unless the broadcasting licenses are annulled, which should be decided by the NCC,” Chen said, adding that broadcasting of terrestrial channels should continue as no decision can be made at this point.
During the meeting yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) and Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), as well as Taiwan People’s Party legislators Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成), said it is the Executive Yuan, not the legislature, that should be blamed for paralyzing the NCC, as it has yet to give a new list of NCC commissioners for the legislature to review.
Lin, who was elected a convener of the Transportation Committee this legislative session, demanded that the NCC apologize after NCC Commissioner Wang Cheng-chia (王正嘉) posted on Facebook criticizing the legislature for the chaos.
Lin also urged the commission to quickly file briefings to unfreeze its part of the budget.
Chen said that half of the commission’s budget was cut by the legislature, while 10 percent of the remaining budget has been frozen, adding that the commission might be closed after September if there is no additional funding.
The Executive Yuan last year nominated four people to replace four outgoing members, but the Transportation Committee twice rejected reviewing the nominations during the previous legislative session.
The Executive Yuan later asked then-NCC vice chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗), who was nominated to be NCC chairman, to temporarily assume the post of chairman.
However, the legislature passed an amendment to the National Communications Commission Organization Act which bans any NCC member from serving more than two terms. Wong, who had served two terms, left after the amendment took effect.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS