Public Television Service

Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation
財團法人公共電視文化事業基金會

Type	Free-to-air nationwide TV
Country	Taiwan
Ownership
Owner	Taiwan Broadcasting System
History
Launched	July 1, 1998
Links
Website	www.pts.org.tw

Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Foundation/Public Television Service Foundation, Chinese: 財團法人公共電視文化事業基金會; pinyin: Cáitúan Fǎrén Gōnggòng Diànshì Wénhuà Shìyè Jījīnhuì), also called Public Television Service (PTS, Chinese: 公共電視/公視; pinyin: Gōnggòng Diànshì/Gōngshì), 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 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 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.