2016.11.04
Oli Wong
The National Communications and Commission (hereinafter, the “NCC”) promulgated the Rules for Evaluating Cable Radio and Television Business Plans via the Tong-Chuan-Ping-Tai-10541037550 Directive of November 4, 2016 (hereinafter, the “Rules”), which came into effect on the day of their promulgation. The Rules are highlighted below:
I. Evaluation and Examination Items
Article 2 of the Rules provides that a system operator is required to submit an evaluation report and relevant supporting materials to the central competent authority within six months after its business license has been issued for three years and six years. The central competent authority will conduct its evaluation and examination based on five categories, namely, channels, finance, customer service, organization and engineering.
II. Procedure and Manners of Evaluation and Examination
1. The Rules specifically provide that the central competent authority shall conduct on-site inspection according to a system operator’s evaluation report in conjunction with governments of municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the central government and of counties (cities).
2. The first stage written examination and scoring: The advisors shall set up an evaluation task force to conduct the first stage written examination and scoring based on channels, finance, customer service, organization and engineering. Meanwhile, the local government of a municipality under the direct jurisdiction of the central government or of a county (city) where the system operator is located will provide general comments and assign scores under five categories, namely, channels, finance, customer service, organization and engineering with the results provided to the Cable Radio and Television Evaluation Consultation Conference (hereinafter, the “Consultation Conference”) as a scoring item (Article 6).
3. The second stage review: The Consultation Conference will conduct the second stage review based on the scoring tables, general comments, recommended grades and relevant materials from the evaluation task force and the government of a municipality under the direct jurisdiction of the central government or of a county (city) where the system operator under evaluation is located (Articles 5 and 7).
III. Recommendations and Results of Evaluation
1. The Consultation Conference shall make evaluation recommendations such as “excellence,” “passing,” “improvement within a specified period,” and “revocation of the license” based on the total evaluation score and the score for each category. The Consultation Conference shall refer the evaluation recommendations, meeting minutes and consultation opinions in the preceding paragraph to the central competent authority for evaluation reference (Article 8).
2. The central competent authority will reach evaluation conclusions such as “excellence,” “passing,” “improvement within a specified period” and “revocation of the license” in reference to the evaluation recommendations of such Consultation Conference in the preceding paragraph (Article 9).
IV. Delivery of the Recommendations and Results of Evaluation and Rectification by the System Operator
Communication of evaluation results and improvement comments to system operators under evaluation shall be delivered to the system operator under evaluation by the central competent authority.
The system operators under evaluation are required to rectify based on the evaluation results and improvement comments and to report the status of rectification. (Article 9).