Public Television Service

Public Television Service

Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS, pinyin: Gōnggòng Diànshì Wénhuà Shìyè Jījīnhuì) is the first independent public broadcasting institution in Taiwan, which broadcasts the Public Television Service Taiwan. Although first proposed in 1980, it was not until 1984 that the ROC's executive-level Government Information Office (GIO), which regulates mass media activities and serves as the government press bureau, attempted to create a separate entity that would produce public interest programs for broadcast on the ROC's then-existing three terrestrial networks. Nevertheless, the Executive Yuan (one of Taiwan's five branches of government or yuans, and the one responsible for the GIO) later shifted the responsibility to the preexisting Chinese Public Television Broadcasting Development Fund. It was not until the early 1990s, following the lifting of martial law, that legislative efforts striving to create a public television station emerged in earnest. After much political wrangling and outcries over public and private resources used in lobbying and advocacy efforts, the final statutes creating PTS were enacted in 1997.

The PTS was formally established on July 1, 1998 after the nomination and first meeting of the first board of directors and supervisors elected by a Legislative Yuan committee and passed by the Examination Yuan.

Since its creation, PTS has produced several critically acclaimed dramatic programs and mini-series despite experiencing funding difficulties. PTS is bound up in speaking for the minority, including the promotion of Hakka language and Taiwanese aboriginal programming that would have been unheard of in the martial law era and have been perceived to be hallmarks of the "Taiwanization" efforts.