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Groups urge public
Want Want forum
NON-COMMITTAL: The NCC chairperson said she
couldn’t commit to holding a public hearing because the commission would first
need to reach a consensus
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The National Communications Commission (NCC) should host a public hearing
regarding a bid by Want Want China Broadband to acquire 11 cable TV services
owned by China Network Service (CNS) and the government should amend the law to
restrict foreign investment in the cable service market and limit media
consolidation, 15 media and legal experts said yesterday.
The Want Want China Broadband is affiliated with the Want Want China Times
Group, which owns three Chinese-language daily newspapers, one terrestrial TV
network, one satellite TV network and one weekly magazine.
The commission has yet to approve CNS’ application for change of management
because of fears it could lead to the concentration of media ownership and
restrict freedom of speech.
The case is also controversial because of comments made by Want Want China Times
group chairman Tsai Eng-ming (蔡衍明) in an interview in the Washington Post
earlier this year.
Tsai was quoted as saying that reports of Tiananmen Square massacre were not
true and that reporters need to carefully consider the consequences before they
write anything critical even though they have the freedom to do so.
Some of the 15 media and legal experts repeated the call for a public hearing on
the case during the meeting with National Communications Commission Chairperson
Su Herng (蘇蘅) yesterday.
Su replied that the commission rules by consensus and she could not commit to
any form of review unilaterally.
She said she has heard opinions from civic organizations and would bring up
their concerns with the commissioners.
Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), an associate research professor at Academia Sinica’s
Institutum Iurisprudentiae, said it was a pity that the commission failed to
respond affirmatively to the expert’s call for a public hearing.
He said they are planning to take their appeal to legislators and ask them to
host a hearing at the legislature.
He added that they would seek the support of legislators to amend the Cable
Television Act (有線廣播電視法) and suggest that the government impose stricter
requirements on foreign investment in the cable service market and limit media
integration.
Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate
Institute of National Development, said the hearing should be open to any
citizen who is concerned about the case.
“If the NCC thinks that the case involves so many complicated issues, why
doesn’t it allow the public to participate in the hearing and help the NCC
clarify those issues?” she asked.
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