PTS chronicled the inauguration of new Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou by transmitting the signal to Taipei and Kaohsiung where publicity teams erected large screen flat-LCDs at public gatherings marking this political milestone. HiHD’s phase one feed is airing 16 hours a day from 8 am to midnight, with a four-hour program block kicking off every evening at 8 pm. “Right now during the weekdays we are running two local language dramas, a documentary and a foreign acquisition,” said I-Wen Li, PTS project leader for HiHD. “On weekends we have variety shows, classic performances of opera or theater and made-for-TV movies.” If deemed a success, the Government Information Office (GIO)’s Department of Broadcasting Affairs, which is financing and overseeing the high-definition effort, will allow TBS to roll out phase two along the island’s populous West Coast, and phase three on the isolated East Coast. PTS aims to make HiHD available as widely as possible in Taiwan before August 2008 so that it can broadcast of high definition programming of the Beijing Summer Olympics. Some see this target as a rivalry with Chunghwa Telcom’s well funded IPTV effort, Multimedia-on-Demand (MOD), which is attracting viewers with deals including six-months free subscription and offers of rebates on purchases of LCD and plasma TVs. But PTS sources point out that Chunghwa’s MOD will reach only areas that are fiber-to-home ready, and will eventually rely on a paying subscription business model; while PTS is free-to-air and aims to provide islandwide coverage. In PTS’ view, HiHD, Channel 30, and Chunghwa’s MOD “are basically complementary” and together will foster the growth of an audience for high definition TV in Taiwan. PTS’ budget for high-definition programming is allocated by the Government Information Office (GIO)’s Department of Broadcasting Affairs and totals NT$200 million (US$6.5 million). The inaugural broadcast of HiHD, Channel 30, featured programming created in-house with this money. Among these programs were projects PTS completed in 2007, including the documentary Spirits of Orchid Island and serial drama, Wayward Kenting. Spirits of Orchid Island was PTS’ third collaboration with British director, Nick Upton, and was a winner at the 2008 Earth Vision Festival in the environmental sustainability category. The film depicts the customs of the Tao people of Orchid Island, including ancient taboos that protect both forest and ocean from overuse. Footage details the rich variety of wildlife native to the island and its coral reefs, and shows how the Tao still harvest the sea from handmade boats, their customs and ceremonies intact, despite the modernizing influence of nearby Taiwan. Syaman Rapongan, a highly-respected Tao writer, reveals his tribe’s deep respect for all living things, and describes how the spirits watch over his people as he builds a traditional boat to fish from. Upton has worked in Taiwan on two earlier award-winning films. He was director/writer/producer for Typhoon Island (2004, BBC/ORF Austria/ PTS Taiwan) and writer/ co-director of Monkey War and Peace (2005, PTS Taiwan). Other in-house PTS productions include the documentary Natural Formosa, a three-episode sequence that explores the mountains and rivers of Taiwan, and features sunrise at Jade Mountain, the historic trail at Patungkuan, Kueishan Island, and Chilan Mountain. In the drama category is the 20-episode series Wayward Kenting, a love story about two young tourist guides in Kenting National Park at the southern tip of Taiwan. PTS’ project leader for HiHD, Li, says the NT$200 million programming budget that PTS received from the GIO allows for roughly 500 hours of programming created by in-house production and by local and foreign acquisition. The island’s other terrestrial broadcasters CTS [now included under TBS’ wings], and commercial enterprises CTV, TTV and FTV are also eligible for GIO subsidies for the production of high-definition programs. PTS welcomes them to submit such programming for broadcast on its HiHD Channel 30. These commercial broadcasters have been hesitant, however, according to Francesca Lai, director of PTS’ Strategy Research & Development Department, because “the NCC has not clearly defined its spectrum policy.” A significant hurdle that PTS faces is Taiwan’s low penetration of LCD and plasma TVs in homes – 9.9 percent in 2006 according to a survey by Taiwan Power – but TBS believes that should be five percent higher today. Hamilton Cheng, research fellow of PTS’ Engineering Department, said PTS adopted the 1920×1080/60i format with MPEG-4/h.264 compression technology for its HiHD, Channel 30. To receive the signal, homeviewers can purchase a set-top box “a capable IRD carrying backward compatibility with SD compressed by MPEG-2” sold at electronics retailers for US$233. The one-year trial began on May 16, just one day after the effective date of the broadcast license issued by the National Communications Commission (NCC), said Cheng. But the timing, especially of PTS’ broadcast four days later to mark the inauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou, could be significant. PTS is hoping that Ma’s government might usher in better funding for public television and its non-profit initiative in high-definition television. The slow adoption of HDTV in Taiwan stems from an “uncertain business model”, says Cheng. He cites a December 2005 report by New Zealand’s Ministry for Culture and Heritage titled ‘Mechanisms for Setting Broadcasting Funding Levels in OECD Countries,’ which compared budgets for public broadcasting versus GDP in 30 OECD countries. The lowest ratio was the US, according to Cheng, and there it was a meager 0.003 percent. Taiwan, due to the fact that it is not a OECD country, was not included in the New Zealand report, so Cheng made an equivalent calculation for Taiwan, and it is even less than that of the US – 0.000078. By this measure, Taiwan public service broadcasting is poorly funded for any new endeavour, including HDTV.