Proposed Amendment to Satellite Broadcasting Act in Taiwan

The current Satellite Broadcasting Act (the “Act”) prohibits investments by a government or a political party directly or indirectly in private radio and television broadcasting services; however, control that is not based on equity investment is not presently regulated by the Act. In addition, it has been criticized that in the event of violation of the Act, the broadcasting services would be subject to sanctions but the government or political party that made the investment would not. The proposed amendment (the “Amendment”) aims to resolve these problems. The Amendment will still prohibit a government or a political party to make direct investment or act as the promoter, director, supervisor or manager of a broadcasting service; however, with respect to indirect investment, a government would be permitted to make indirect investment not to exceed 10% in the issued capital of a broadcasting service by itself, its endowment and trustee in the aggregate. This relaxation however does not apply to a political party, its endowment or trustee, that is, no indirect investment will be permitted. The same sort of amendment was also presented for two other related laws, namely, the Radio and Television Act, and the Cable Radio and Television Act.