A Study on Taiwan's Public Broadcasting System in the Age of Digital Convergence

• Main Authors: Yann-Long Chen, 陳彥龍
• Other Authors: James C.Hsiung
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/05023209721196290417

博士 === 世新大學 === 傳播研究所(含博士班) === 99 === The development of broadcasting system in Taiwan was first initiated by the commercial television and later followed by the public television. The Taiwan Public Television (PTS) was first proposed in 1980. After eighteen years of legislation and formation, on July 1, 1998, the PTS foundation officially launched its broadcasting services and since then, there are over hundreds of commercial television channels available in Taiwan. Due to the rotation of ruling parties in Taiwan occurring in 2000, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government then enforced an amendment to the Broadcasting and Television Law relating to the exclusion of political influence from the broadcast media. Later, with the publicizing policy for the Chinese Television System (CTS), on July 1, 2006, the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) was formed, composed of PTS and CTS. Since 2007, with the joining of the Hakka Television, Taiwan Indigenous Television and Taiwan Macroview Television, the Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) came to existence, with an annual operation funding of over 2 billion NTD. Despite the expansion in public broadcasting services, the Public Television Act remained intact without any revision. Not surprisingly, the television stations under PSB confronted problems due to ambiguity in their legal positioning, shortage of public funding, as well as organizational cultural conflicts arisen from the consolidation. In 2008, a second ruling party rotation took place and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came into power. This continuous disturbance further made PTS entrapped into the gloom of government intervention; consequently, PTS’s independent operation without interference and public accountability system have become the major issues for PTA amendment. On the other hand, with the advent of the digital era, the Taiwanese public broadcasting system has confronted many reforms. From an innovative service perspective, digital convergence overcome status, geographical and time limitations that existed in the analog system. This advancement permitted the traditional PSB services to set foot in the telecommunication industry, and a new Public Service Media/Communication was formed. By employing the PSB theoretical model and conducting comparative analyses for existing public broadcasting systems in advanced nations, this research intends to evaluate our nation’s public television’s institutional position and its overall development outlook in the digital era. The effective functioning of PSB must rely on stable funding support and be freed from commercial and political intervention. TBS, with the exception of CTS, all depended on government budget to support their operation. In times of nation’s financial difficulty or congressional conflict, such funding became vulnerable for budget freeze or cut. In order to reduce government intervention and enhance independency, this study suggests PSB Foundation ought to modify its existing income structure, i.e. to reduce its proportion of government support while increase the proportion of voluntary contributions. Yet, Government agencies must also acknowledge that PTS belongs to the entire body of citizens and should draw on the arm’s-length principle as the basis for designing the public television constitution. The broadcasting policies, institution, laws and regulations stipulated by our government agencies have a vital impact on the development of PTS. This research proposes that after the abrogation of the Government Information Office (GIO), the Department of Culture Affairs, Executive Yuan and the National Communications Commission (NCC) should work together hand in hand to assist and act as the key initiators for the development of our nation’s public television services. The relevant actions could include efforts towards nurturing cultural related substances, instituting a film and television special fund, making amendment to the Broadcasting Act on regulations related to cultural creativity protection, etc. for these designs and considerations are essential for the formulation of cultural and communications policy. This research advocates that the laws and regulations for public broadcasting service system must proceed gradually in stages. In the short range, the positioning of each television stations under the PBS must be determined and clarified. Additionally, the Chinese Television System, Hakka Television, and Taiwan Macroview Television should be incorporated in the Public Television Act and aim for a common board of directors’ governance system. With respect to the intermediate and long run, the Taiwan Indigenous Television, Central News Agency, Radio Taiwan International and other government-own radio stations could form alliances with each other based on their unique roles in the digital public broadcasting platform. This alliance can collectively provide non-commercial broadcasting services to the general public and can bring forth greatest synergy effort for public media.。