有線電視頻道規劃的管制及其界限－－以一般性頻道規劃與個別頻道載送決定的管制為比較分析中心

The Regulation of Cable Operators' Program Carriage Decision and Its Constitutional Limits - Focusing on FCC's Program Carriage Rules and Recent Cases

有線電視的頻道規劃雖涉及系統業者編輯決定，但因有線電視目前仍具一定市場地位且為重要的言論傳輸平台，相關載送決定關係多元言論流通，且與頻道業者及消費大眾傳遞、接收資訊權利息息相關，自有必要予以適當管制。然而，究竟管制標準為何，在管制手段上又應如何選擇，才能適當的平衡系統業者、頻道業者與社會（包括消費大眾）三方的權益，實值得研究。本文嘗試參考美國有線電視頻道規劃管制法制，特別針對該國通訊傳播法第616節的規定，及聯邦通訊傳播委員會1993年公布並於2011年修正的「頻道載送命令」與新近重要案例，進行深入分析。最後則回頭檢視台灣有關頻道規劃管制的現況，針對現行有線廣播電視法及其修正草案中，對有線電視系統業者頻道規劃採取高度管制，卻又無法有效解決系統業者與頻道業者垂直整合後，限制獨立頻道業者競爭或妨礙多元言論流通的問題進行檢討，並提出修正建議。

Cable Operators' program carriage determination is an editorial decision protected by the Constitution. However, as cable television still dominates in video programming distribution market and serves as an important communication platform, in order to ensure that unaffiliated programmers can have undiscriminated access to this platform and that the audience can receive more diverse information, certain restrictions on cable operator's program carriage decision would be necessary. The problems, then, are what kind of regulation is appropriate, and how to balance the interests among cable operators, programmers and the general public. This article first studies U.S. regulatory framework regarding cable operator's program carriage decision with special focus on Section 616 of the Communications Act, the F.C. C.'s program carriage rules, and recent program carriage cases. This article then reviews Taiwan's current program carriage regulation. Based on the comparison between U.S. and Taiwan's regulatory frameworks, this paper concludes that although program carriage decisions are highly regulated by Taiwan's Cable Radio and Television Act and its proposed amendments, they fails to safeguard and promote the communication of more diverse speech because it does not effectively address the potential anticompetitive carriage decisions toward unaffiliated programmers caused by the increasing vertical integration of cable operators and programmers.