The National Communications Commission (NCC) on Friday said that amendments to the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) passed by the Legislative Yuan earlier that day, which eases license renewal rules for news channels, would not restore the cable news broadcasting rights of Chung Tien Television (CTi TV).
The legislation contains no retroactive provisions and would not affect CTi News, which was offlined in 2020, NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said.
The amendments, proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers, allow channels to continue broadcasting on their original slots during administrative lawsuits and require authorities to provide remedies if a channel has been reassigned.
Photo: Taipei Times
The revisions also stipulate that applications for renewal of news channel licenses should be approved in principle and extend satellite broadcasting licenses from six years to nine years.
The bill passed 60-48, with the KMT and TPP outvoting the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which opposed the amendments.
The changes have been dubbed the “CTi TV clause” by critics who say they could open a path for CTi News to regain its license after it was taken off the air on Dec. 12, 2020, when its license expired and was not renewed by the NCC.
The broadcasting regulator rejected CTi News’ license renewal application on Nov. 18, 2020, citing “repeated rule violations” and “a failure of its internal discipline and control mechanisms.”
CTi TV later entered into an administrative lawsuit with the NCC, which is still ongoing.
In a statement on Friday, CTi TV said the passage of the amendments marked “a major development for news freedom” and called it a step toward “fairness.”
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) yesterday refuted the NCC’s statement, saying that under Article 18 of the Central Regulation Standard Act (中央法規標準法), the “principle of applying the more favorable law” generally dictates that new laws should apply if the case is still pending.
Cheng said the case over the license renewal for CTi News is under further review by the High Administrative Court, with the legal proceedings ongoing.
As long as the case is being reviewed in court, it remains very much a “work in progress” from a legal standpoint, he said.
If the NCC continues to try to block the application of the new law by relying on established facts, it would effectively elevate administrative interpretations above legal protections, he said.
KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said the KMT caucus was never focused on a specific TV station.
Whether CTi News can apply the act would depend on the outcome of the upcoming lawsuit, she said.
If they win, the new law would apply; if they lose, there is nothing more to discuss, she said, adding that this is a matter for the court to decide.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
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