Media of Taiwan

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The media in Taiwan is one of the freest and most competitive in Asia. Although there are officially laws which prohibit advocating Taiwan independence or communism, these are not generally enforced. Cable TV usage is high (around 80%) and there is also a wide selection of newspapers available covering most political viewpoints.

Contents

[edit] Cable Television

As noted above, cable television is prevalent in Taiwan, as a result of cheap subscription rates (typically around NT$550 a month) and the paucity of free-to-air television, which comprises just three channels. Programming is mostly in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese, with some Japanese and English channels. Miniseries, called Taiwanese drama, are popular. There is a dedicated station for Taiwan's Hakka minority as well as the arrival in 2005 of an aboriginal channel. Almost all programs are in the original language with traditional Chinese subtitles. While the channels offered by cable differ slightly according to the area, the following stations are generally available:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

There are also a few 'extra' channels which are only available in a limited range of areas in Taiwan:

*- Use it with Star TV set-up box decoder/receiver to have the Chinese subtitles displayed.

The ROC government is pushing for a switch to digital television services in the near future - this will be provided through a set-top box and will increase the number of available channels.

[edit] Radio

There are many stations across the FM and AM spectrum broadcasting a wide variety of programming. Talk-shows, popular music and classic songs are some of the most frequently heard subjects. Exclusively Taiwanese language stations have enjoyed a surge in popularity since the end of the martial law era and regulations restricting the use of languages other than Mandarin Chinese.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) - national and regional networks
  • CBS - Radio Taiwan International - national broadcaster; also beams services to mainland China and the rest of the world with programmes in various languages and Chinese dialects
  • ICRT - Taiwan's only national English-language station
  • Public Radio System (PRS) - government-run; travel, weather, social information
  • Hit Fm and Kiss Radio Taiwan both play popular Chinese music.
  • UFO network- second largest station in Taiwan. Very popular. Plays all different kinds of music such as C-pop, J-pop, and American pop.

[edit] Newspapers

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

There are also three English language newspapers:

[edit] Magazines and Periodicals

In 1988, there were only about 3,400 magazine publishers in the country. Today, the number has been rapidly increasing to 4,827 (by August 2006). Magazines are various in different contents, including business, politics, entertainment, languages, lifestyle, technology, health, cooking, automobiles, women, education, traveling etc.

[edit] Internet

Taiwan is one of the most wired places in the world - broadband or cable modem access is relatively cheap and fast. In 2005 there were 13.8 million internet users and 2.8 million webhosts in Taiwan (for a total population of 22.9 million). A popular feature of even small towns are internet cafes (Chinese: 網咖, Pinyin: wǎngkā), which are often 24-hour and sell a variety of food and drink so that the mainly teenage online gamers who inhabit them do not have to stray too far from their monitors. Taiwan websites use the .tw domain.

[edit] Media Dispute

Due to the rapid change and quick development, the media in Taiwan have been in an acrimonious competition environment. In a population of 23-million market, the country has 7 twenty-four-hour news stations (compare to 3 in the US, 3 in UK, and 0 in Japan), more than 4,000 magazine publishers, and approximately 200 radio stations, and about 2,500 newspaper publishers; moreover, Taiwan also has the highest density of Satellite News Gathering (SNG) trucks, 23 million people share 82 trucks while 120 million/71 in Japan, 7 million/1 in Hong Kong, 48 million/40 in Korea, 1 billion/300 in India. However, in order to earn a higher Nielsen rating in such a competitive market, sometimes the shows tend to include sexual and violent contents. Sensational headlines are often picked up.

Taiwan has some online resources available in English:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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