The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it had launched a formal investigation into Taiwan Broadcasting Communications (TBC) over the removal of Discovery Channel and three domestic channels from its cable networks.
The multisystem operator yesterday took the channels off the five cable systems it owns due to a dispute over content authorization fees with Homeplus Digital Co, the agent that represents the channels, the commission said in a statement.
In addition to Discovery, TBC also removed GTV 1, GTV Variety and TVBS Entertainment.
Photo: Taipei Times
Cable operators must seek NCC approval before changing their channel lineups. They are also required to announce the change by running news tickers for five consecutive days.
However, TBC only ran a news ticker about the change for one day, the commission said, adding that the company was told to rectify the situation and that local government officials were notified to handle the incident.
NCC yesterday summoned representatives from the five cable systems to answer questions, and they would be penalized if they were deemed to have contravened the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法), it said.
TBC said it filed an application in December 2022 to replace the four channels with Love Nature, Rock Entertainment, Rock Extreme and Golden Variety, but the NCC had not approved the changes.
Last month, Homeplus informed the system operator that it was broadcasting Discovery and three other channels without authorization, TBC said.
“To avoid being accused of copyright infringement and facing potentially high authorization fees from Homeplus, we decided to take down Discovery and three channels, and replace them with four channels we earlier proposed to safeguard consumer interests,” it said.
TBC general manager Pan Hsu-bang (潘煦邦) said the two companies could not reach an agreement because the number of subscribers that Homeplus used to calculate the fees was higher than other agents.
That was unfair to other agents and made the fees so high that the operator could no longer afford them, Pan said.
TBC called for reform on the way channel lineups can be arranged, and asked the NCC to address what it called a monopoly companies such as Homeplus have over cable system operators.
Homeplus said that TBC has owed NT$345 million (US$11.5 million) in content authorization fees since 2022.
The group filed a lawsuit over NT$120 million in unpaid fees for 2022 and 2023, and although a court ruled in its favor in the first trial last month, TBC has yet to settle the debt or initiate a repayment plan, it said.
Homeplus said the cable service disruption is by no means a simple fee dispute, but rather an illegal act by TBC to use subscribers’ rights as a bargaining chip in commercial negotiations.
“TBC disregards regulatory requirements set by the NCC and seriously undermines industry order,” it said. “We ask TBC not to sacrifice viewers’ interests for its own gain and to restore the signals of the four channels as soon as possible.”
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