Taiwan's Taiwan Government urged to reform cable TV regulation

A regulatory approach to broadcasting is in need of reform and liberalisation, according to international pay-TV industry representatives and academics speaking at a recent CASBAA and National Communications Commission conference.

Given the government's price cap on cable TV services was fixed for 14 years, pay-TV operators said there was little incentive to develop new content or invest in new technologies for Taiwan's TV market.

Professor Jessica Chou of Yuan Ze University said that Taiwan's industry was over regulated, although some competition had helped the country start to catch up with digital development in other markets in Asia.

Professor Yoosung Yang from Chung An University in Seoul told conference attendees that cable TV in Korea is also socially important, like it is in Taiwan. However, the industry in Korea has undergone regulatory restructuring, with new competition allowed in the market and the cable price cap removed. Although subscription levels have declined, cable industry revenues have actually risen and consumers now have more choices, he said.

Regulatory expert Nigel Mukherjee from Ogilvy and Mather said the current law in Taiwan was too sweeping, constraining the whole analogue cable bouquet. Regulating the higher tiers of cable TV could not be justified on consumer protection grounds and was a real constraint to industry development, he added.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/international-news/item/4611-taiwan-s-taiwan-government-urged-to-reform-cable-tv-regulation.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/international-news/item/4611-taiwan-s-taiwan-government-urged-to-reform-cable-tv-regulation.html