By Shelley Shan / Employees reporter
The Nationwide Communications Fee (NCC) has quickly suspended the introduction of the draft digital middleman service act after it was criticized for allegedly impeding freedom of speech by permitting authorities businesses to flag sure Web content material.
“Following a gathering on Monday, we determined to return the draft act to our digital convergence process group, which can re-examine it based mostly on the feedback we gathered by means of three info periods final month. Our employees members categorized these feedback alongside 22 important points and about 80 minor points,” NCC Vice Chairman and spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) advised a information convention in Taipei.
The draft act is “again to sq. one,” he stated.
Wong stated that most individuals suppose the laws should clearly state what obligations could be imposed on digital middleman service suppliers, together with regulatory filings, transparency experiences and defending client rights.
“Some have stated that the definition of a digital middleman service supplier is so broad that e-commerce operators could be regulated by the draft act. We have to conduct additional research to evaluate how the draft act would have an effect on the trade,” Wong stated.
Requested whether or not the transfer would depart the fee’s newly established Web Communications Administration Division with no legal guidelines to implement, Wong stated the fee would work with a number of stakeholders within the authorities and personal sector, and supply administrative steering to digital platforms.
Individually, airtime for domestically produced kids’s programming was lowered final 12 months as an rising variety of kids watch exhibits on over-the-top (OTT) companies, an NCC survey amongst terrestrial and satellite tv for pc channels confirmed.
Airtime for kids’s applications on satellite tv for pc tv dropped to 2,755 hours final 12 months from 2,920 hours in 2020, whereas airtime for newly produced kids’s exhibits additionally slid from to 1,070 hours final 12 months from 1,196 hours in 2020.
“Some tv stations advised us that almost all kids now watch applications on OTT companies, relatively than on cable,” Wong stated. “We’re planning to subsequent 12 months process a 3rd celebration to conduct a examine on the published media trade, and we’ll decide whether or not we must always loosen up broadcast media rules.”
Specialists from media associations and civic teams stated TV stations have change into much less keen to put money into applications for kids, citing a comparatively smaller market in Taiwan, Wong stated.
The teams advised the NCC that Taiwan lacks an trade chain to provide applications for kids and youngsters, Wong stated.
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the manufacturing schedules of TV applications, Taiwanese channels didn’t report any issues assembly the required percentages of domestically produced content material, together with kids’s exhibits, leisure exhibits, TV sequence and movies, the survey discovered.
Airtime for domestically produced leisure exhibits, TV sequence and movies rose final 12 months, the fee stated.
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