FEE DISPUTE:The firms have been feuding all year over channel listing fees after EHS asked for a reduction, but TOP said that it is not worried by EHS’s threat to pull out

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 05, 2017
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

TV shopping operator Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co Ltd (EHS, 東森購物) on Tuesday said it was not worried about the possible withdrawal of five of its shopping channels from Taiwan Optical Platform Co (TOP, 台灣數位光訊) amid the recent collapse of negotiations on listing fees.

“We might lose 500,000 viewers from TOP’s broadcasting systems, but we gained 1.4 million additional viewers earlier this year from a collaboration with Chunghwa Telecom Co’s [CHT, 中華電信] multimedia-on-demand [MOD] service,” EHS, a subsidiary of Eastern Media International (東森國際), said in a statement. “We foresee limited impact on EHS’ operation.”

However, such a withdrawal would affect TOP’s annual revenue by NT$200 million (US$6.57 million), EHS said.

The National Communications Commission’s (NCC) attempt to mediate between the two companies failed on Saturday last week for a second time.    [FULL  STORY]