In the 1970s, Li Zhan was the first to advocate the establishment of public television in Taiwan. Li Zhan believed that public television was the best television system for Taiwan. He opposed the advertising competition, low-quality programs, and dialect programs of the “old three television stations” and claimed to convert them into public television through legislation. He campaigned for public television realization under martial law, proposing the “Three People’s Principles News System” as the theoretical basis for such implementation. It assumed dictatorial leaders must be morally and intellectually superior and should play a leading role in public television although the 1997 Public Television Act emphasizes legislative approval. Taiwan’s social democratization has engendered a different context for “public television.” Consequently, subsequent advocates for the establishment of public television did not follow Li Zhan’s ideas when facing opposition from the political and economic sectors.