September 2011
Growing Non-profit Media; Reasons, Roles and Relations with Public Service Broadcasting
Ken-ichi Yamada
Taiwan’s CATV television rapidly grew along with liberalization and democratization that begin in the late 1980s, and the government authority also liberalized in principle the entry of news satellite-channel operators that provide contents for CATV. Since then the number of satellite channels has jumped, and each station is now desperate to survive by cutting production budget and introducing revenue-making measures with no inhibition. Against this backdrop, the National Communication Commission (NCC), an independent regulatory body, is recently drawing strong criticism from channel operators as it has asserted “ultimate authority” in succession such as revoking the broadcasting license on the grounds of noncompliance with content regulation and declining license application. This article discusses the broadcasting license policy in an overly competitive market based on field research the author conducted in Taiwan in February 2011.
In December 2010 NCC made a decision to revoke a broadcasting license of ERA Communications’ general channel on the ground that the broadcaster violated the satellite broadcast law three times by providing “advertisement-like TV shows” during the period of conditional license renewal. In response, ERA made a strong objection, regarding this move as “infringement of free speech,” and filed a suit against the government. NCC also displayed a harsh attitude toward Next TV that had been trying to enter the market. Next TV’s application for broadcasting license was rejected twice by NCC due to complaints from youth and women’s groups over “action news,” a new type of news reporting service that recreate the cases using CG, which Next TV was trying to introduce. Next TV argued, “Free entry into satellite broadcasts is guaranteed in principle. Not issuing the license just because there is possible infringement is an abuse of power.” Facing such series of criticism, NCC stressed that ERA’s general channel had violated the law 49 times in six years, during the valid license period, far more often than other broadcasters, and that advertisement-like TV shows stem from excessive commercialism and has nothing to do with freedom of speech. NCC also refuted Next TV, arguing that recreation of news content inevitably comes with “speculation” that breaches the principle of “news must be the truth.” Many of media scholars and media NGOs see that ERA may deserve NCC’s treatment due to its too many violations. However, in case of Next TV, they think NCC should grant the license to the station first and penalize them when violations were found.
What underlies the problem is the reality of “overcompetition” – the fact that Taiwan, with population of 23 million, has no less than 167 channels, and this number does not include non-Taiwanese broadcasters. When considering the principle of freedom of speech and the media, executive authorities’ controlling over the survival of each TV channel is not desirable, but given the principle of “the media as a public institution,” it is true that at least a few of too many satellite channels in Taiwan seem to lack the awareness of “public institution” or seized with a thought, “survival is more important than ethics.” Since broadcasters’ self-regulation does not function well enough, NCC’s “asserting authority” can be justified to certain extent, but whether this can include the “regulation at the gate” such as in the case of Next TV is controversial even among those involved in the media. In the future, restructuring and consolidation of broadcasters will be indispensable, but given Taiwan’s political bipolarization, the ideal scenario shall be broadcasters’ voluntary realignment.
Commercial broadcasters in Japan are also faced with severe conditions including troubled advertising market and accompanying cutback in production budget, and therefore it is necessary to discuss Japan’s broadcasting policy taking account not only of the merit of liberalization, or vitalization of the industry, but also of the demerit, or deterioration in quality caused by overcompetition.
Postscript: On July 20, 2011, NCC decided on a policy to grant the license to Next TV’s news channel in response to the station’s proposal of public pledge consisting of seven provisions including “It will make no CG regarding sex, violence, and nudity.”