***********************************
The Chief Executive in Council approved today (July 22) the renewal of the sound broadcasting licences of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited (CRHK) and Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited (Metro).
The renewed licences will be in effect from August 26, 2004 to August 25, 2016, subject to the usual condition of a mid-term review which will be in 2010.
Announcing the approval, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Henry Tang, thanked the Broadcasting Authority (BA) for dutifully carrying out its statutory duty to draw up the renewal recommendations in an open, balanced and forward-looking manner.
" To collect public views on the services provided by the two licensees and gauge community expectations of sound broadcasting services, the BA conducted an independent opinion survey, held a public hearing and consulted the two radio stations on the licence conditions.
"Based on the licensees' compliance record and public views on their services, the BA is satisfied with the performance of CRHK and Metro, and therefore recommended that their licences be renewed," Mr Tang said.
"When considering the terms and conditions of the licence, the Government has also balanced the need to maintain a flexible licensing regime in view of rapid technological changes and the need to mitigate uncertainties to investment arising from changes in the regime. We will need to revisit these issues during the mid-term review.
"During the mid-term review, in addition to the BA's recommendations, we will also take into account the broadcasting policy and state of technological development at the time. This will include the efficient use of frequency spectrum, the demand for telecommunications and information services, the need to promote competition, and the further development of digital and multimedia technologies," Mr Tang added.
When introducing the licence conditions, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing, Ms Lorna Wong, said "Under the renewed licences, both licensees will maintain one channel with 80 per cent broadcast in Cantonese and one channel with 80 per cent broadcast in English, while there will be no language requirement for the third channel so that licensees may run a multilingual channel to meet the community's needs.
On programme scheduling, the licensees will be given more flexibility in the scheduling of positive programmes, such as news and weather programmes, current affairs programmes, arts and culture programmes, and programmes for young persons and senior citizens.
The Government also takes the opportunity to standardise the licence conditions for the two licensees so as to maintain a level playing field in the broadcasting industry.
The renewed licences also require the licensees to fulfill their investment commitments. In the first six years of the renewed licences, CRHK and Metro will respectively invest about $1,090 million and $567 million in programme production and capital investment.
End/Tuesday, July 22, 2003
NNNN
