《TAIPEI TIMES》 No decision yet on requests to take over Channel 52

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The National Communications Commission （NCC） yesterday said that it has yet to approve the applications of 22 cable operators to replace CTi News with other news channels on Channel 52, but has agreed to leave the channel vacant for now.

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The commission on Nov. 18 rejected CTi News’ application to renew its license, which expires tomorrow.

As cable operators are banned from broadcasting content from unlicensed channels, they must take down CTi News from their channel lineup no later than 12am tomorrow.

All 64 cable operators in the nation have applied to change their channel lineups, of which 42 have proposed leaving Channel 52 vacant for now, NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung （翁柏宗） said.

The other 22 have applied to have other news channels take over Channel 52, he said.

The nation’s largest multiple-system operator, China Network Systems Co （中嘉數位）, has applied to replace CTi News with Global News, while its peers Taiwan Broadband Communication （台灣寬頻通訊） and Dafeng TV Ltd （大豐有線電視） plan to have CNN take over the channel, he said.

Shih Hsin Cable Television Inc （世新有線電視） and Kuo-Shen Cable Television Inc （國聲有線電視）, two independent cable system operators in Chiayi, have proposed moving France24’s English-language channel from Channel 31 to Channel 52.

Wong said that the commission at its weekly meeting yesterday morning approved the requests of cable operators to leave Channel 52 vacant.

As to those applying to have other news channels replace CTi News on Channel 52, the NCC would first collect opinions from local governments as they are in charge of approving cable operators’ subscription fees, he said.

NCC commissioners would review these applications after hearing from local government officials, Wong said.

“We will review the applications based on the factors stated in Article 29 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act （衛星廣播電視法）, including whether these applications would facilitate competition in the cable service market, protect consumers, safeguard public interests and ensure diversity of media content,” he said.

Asked if the commission would prefer that cable operators choose to have the digital news channel of Chinese Television System （CTS） — part of Taiwan Broadcasting System — replace CTi News, Wong said that every news channel has an opportunity to take over Channel 52, adding that CTS News and Info Channel is only one of the many contenders.

Channel lineups are determined through negotiations between cable systems and channel operators, and cable systems submit the results of negotiations to the commission for final approval, Wong said, adding that this matter should be sorted primarily through the market mechanism.

Although CTi News has appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court after the Taipei High Administrative Court on Monday rejected an injunction that the channel had filed over the NCC’s ruling, the commission said that its ruling remains effective so long as it is not canceled by the court or the commission does not withdraw its ruling.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES