December 7, 2024

Inside Asia: Tough Talk in Taiwan on Media Deals

HONG KONG — Regulators in Taiwan, under pressure from a public worried that Beijing may meddle in their media, have begun talking tough on television and newspaper deals by businessmen based in Taiwan with strong ties to mainland China.

The island’s media watchdog has proposed new anti-monopoly rules that could scuttle the $601 million sale of Next Media’s Taiwan operations to a Taiwan-based group including the Want Want Holdings owner Tsai Eng-meng, who runs a multibillion-dollar empire in China that includes snack foods and property.

Academics and media professionals, as well as the political opposition, fear that Mr. Tsai and others who make their fortunes on the mainland will push a pro-Beijing bias on Taiwan’s media. Mr. Tsai, who already owns one of the four largest dailies in Taiwan, has denied any pro-China agenda but has attracted controversy as a vocal proponent of unification of Taiwan with the mainland.

In January, the island’s independent media regulator opposed an anti-monopoly amendment drafted by the opposition that would have blocked the Next Media sale, saying it was too strict. Parliament rejected the measure and called on the regulator to draft a new bill.

That sparked a public backlash, and now the regulator, the National Communication Commission, seems to be changing its tune, showing more sensitivity about China’s perceived influence.

“Whether or not a group is leaning too much towards China would affect the extent of the health of the market,” said a commission official, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue. “We don’t want to see the market overly dominated by a certain group.”

The Free Trade Commission in Taiwan, which will also have to sign off on the print portion of the Next Media deal, said it was well aware of public concerns and would make the review process as transparent as possible.

Perceptions of mainland influence in the media have given rise to political controversy on an island that mistrusts mainland China yet depends heavily on it for trade and investment.

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan — although many on the democratic and self-governing island of 23 million want assurances on future independence — making the media battle for hearts and minds in Taiwan especially vital to Beijing. Mainland Chinese entities are prohibited from investing directly in Taiwan’s media.

About 100,000 people took to the streets of Taipei in January to protest President Ma Ying-jeou’s mainland-friendly government. The demonstrators were in large part disgruntled with the state of the economy, but many carried signs and chanted slogans decrying the proposed Next Media deal.

In an interview with The Washington Post in January 2012, Mr. Tsai denied that he was trying to please Beijing to further his mainland business interests, but said that closer integration would be beneficial to all.

“Whether you like it or not, unification is going to happen sooner or later,” he was quoted as saying.

The sale would add Next Media’s print business, including the top-circulation Apple Daily, to Mr. Tsai’s two Taiwan TV news stations and three newspapers.

Five years ago, Mr. Tsai paid nearly $700 million for China Times Group, which includes The China Times, another of Taiwan’s four big national dailies, as well as TV channels and other publications. Two years later, he agreed to pay $2.4 billion for the cable TV operator China Network Systems, which would give him an additional 28 percent share of Taiwan’s cable subscribers.

Taiwan’s media sector, which burgeoned after martial law was lifted a quarter-century ago and boasts seven major all-news television channels, has seen several big deals in recent years involving private equity firms, as well as Mr. Tsai and other tycoons with media ambitions.

But the regulators showed their willingness to stand firm against Mr. Tsai last month when the communications commission officially blocked the cable deal, ruling that he had failed to meet onerous requirements, imposed when the deal got conditional approval last July, that would sharply reduce his involvement in news broadcasting.

The commission official said concerns over Chinese influence in the media had been a factor in the decision.

Critics worried about Mr. Tsai’s rising media influence and his mainland ties had opposed the deal, fearing that regulators would give the deal a pass despite the conditions.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/business/global/tough-talk-in-taiwan-on-media-deals.html?partner=rss&emc=rss