Ta P'ing Cable Television Ltd., Co., alleges violations of the Fair Trade Law by San Li Video Co., Sheng Ch'i Co., Pa Ta International Broadcasting Co., and Ta T'un Min Chu Cable Broadcasting Systems Co.
Chinese Taipei
Case:
Ta P'ing Cable Television Ltd., Co., alleges violations of the Fair Trade Law by San Li Video Co., Sheng Ch'i Co., Pa Ta International Broadcasting Co., and Ta T'un Min Chu Cable Broadcasting Systems Co.
Key Words:
concealment of price information, territorial sole agency
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of January 6, 1999 (the 374the Commission Meeting)
Industry:
Television (8520)
Relevant Laws:
Summary:
This case originated from a complaint filed by Ta P'ing Cable Television Limited Company (hereinafter "Ta P'ing"). The allegations in the complaint could be summarized as follows:
Ta P'ing obtained a cable TV operator license in June 1998 and officially began operation in July. After obtaining the license, it started to contact the program providers including Sheng Ch'i, San Li, and Pa Ta to purchase their programs and sent them documented letters requesting price quotations. But its requests had never been responded. Rather, those gave their exclusive programming rights to another system operator in the same area: Ta T'un Min Chu Cable Broadcasting Systems Co. (hereinafter "Ta T'un"). Ta P'ing therefore alleged that Sheng Ch'i, San Li, and Pa Ta violated Articles 19(i), 19(ii), and 19(vi) of the Fair Trade Law (FTL).
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) began its investigation on the programmers, and found that after Sheng Ch'i and Pa Ta received Ta P'ing's requests for price quotations, they promptly contacted Ta P'ing in September and October 1998, and subsequently completed the signing of the drafts for program licensing for 1999. As for San Li Co., it had assigned its programming rights to Sheng Ch'I, and as a result did not deal directly with system operators. In addition, Pa Ta Co. acknowledged that it had in 1998 formerly signed an territorial agency contract with Ta T'un for its programs of GTV27 and GTV28. However, at the time of signing the contract, Ta T'un was the only legal cable system operator in the area.
To advance transparency of the information regarding the transaction of cable TV channel programming, the FTC has compiled "Principles for Reviewing Cases Involving Transparency of Information in Sales by Enterprises of Cable TV Channel Programming," which requires the program providers to fully disclose to their trading counterparts the licensing prices and any preferential treatment. In this case, Pa Ta, Sheng Ch'i, and Ta T'un were reported for allegedly having refused to furnish price quotations for channel programming, and for signing a territorial agency contract.
The FTC in its 374th Commission Meeting decided as follows. After Sheng Ch'i and Pa Ta Cos. received Ta P'ing's requests for price quotations, they immediately furnished quotations for the various channel programs they produced or distributed and subsequently concluded the draft for program licensing contract. They can hardly be deemed to have refused to quote prices or refused to deal with Ta P'ing. Pa Ta had indeed previously concluded a territorial agency contract with Ta T'un. However, at the time of the signing of the contract Ta T'un was the only legal cable system operator in the area. Whether the signing of the agency contract would have had the effect of restraining competition is not unquestionable. Also, the channel programs acquired by Ta T'un under the agency contract includes channels GTV27 and GTV28. Other channel programs of similar nature are still available as alternatives in the market of channel programming. Therefore, it is unlikely for the agency contract to have the effect of impeding fair competition.
Summarized by Liao Hsien-chou
Supervised by Hsin Chih-chung
Appendix:
Ta P'ing Cable Television Limited Company Uniform Invoice No.: 97176790
Sheng Ch'i Limited Company Uniform Invoice No.: 16140251
San Li Video Limited Company Uniform Invoice No.: 23740512
Pa Ta International Broadcasting Limited Company Uniform Invoice No.: 97468608
Ta T'un Min Chu Cable Broadcasting Systems Limited Company Uniform Invoice No.:
84968124