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Following is a question by the Hon Howard Young and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (April 9):
Question:
It has been reported that a pay television operator earlier proposed to the Government that the Copyright Ordinance be amended to allow pay television operators to transmit to their clients, through their systems, the digital television broadcast signals of two free television broadcasters. The operator estimated that this would substantially increase within a short period the penetration rate of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting, and 90% of the population of Hong Kong could view the Beijing Olympic Games broadcast in digital format. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether, technically speaking, subscribers of pay television services can view DTT broadcasting programmes without buying a digital set-top box separately; if there are technical constraints, of the details;
(b) whether it is reviewing the restrictions imposed by the Copyright Ordinance on the transmission of the broadcast signals of free television broadcasters by pay television operators; if it is, when the outcome of the review will be available; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) what other measures it will adopt to expeditiously increase the penetration rate of DTT broadcasting?
Reply:
Madam President,
Before answering the Hon Mr Young's question, I would like to briefly clarify the general background of the reception of television broadcasting.
At present, there are some 2.2 million households in Hong Kong, over 99% of which have at least one television set. Most of them live in multi-storey buildings. In general, these buildings have communal antenna broadcast distribution (CABD) systems installed to receive free television signals on the air for transmitting to individual households. CABD systems can be upgraded to receive signals of digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, which has just commenced, in parallel with analogue broadcasting signals. To view DTT programmes, individual households only need to equip their existing television sets with DTT decoders (commonly known as "set-top boxes") or buy integrated television sets capable of decoding digital signals.
For pay television service, operators currently transmit their pay television programmes to subscribers through various networks, including cable, satellite, broadband and conventional telephony networks. Individual subscribers have to use the decoders provided by the operators to view the pay television programmes.
My reply to the Hon Mr Young's question is as follows:
(a) The provision of DTT services includes high definition (HD) television programmes. Most existing pay television decoders are standard definition (SD) decoders. As such, unless the pay television operators are willing to offer HD decoders free of charge, pay television subscribers still need to purchase or hire a separate HD digital decoder from the service operators for viewing both pay television and DTT programmes (including HD television programmes). In addition, HD television programmes demand a very high transmission capacity. At this juncture, some pay television networks do not have sufficient capacity for providing HD television programmes to subscribers.
(b) At present, pay television operators are permitted under the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) to receive free television broadcast programmes through CADB systems and re-transmit them immediately without alteration to individual subscribers in the buildings. Through the interconnection of the pay television networks with the CADB systems and the transmission of signals to households via the same blockwiring, subscribers may use the same television outlet to receive free and pay television programmes. This arrangement makes it possible for subscribers to receive both free and pay television programmes without the need to install additional television wiring and outlets within their flat.
Under the Copyright Ordinance, pay television operators are not allowed to include free television programmes in their pay channel programmes for transmission through their networks to subscribers in buildings without authorisation. However, pay television operators are free to enter into re-transmission arrangements with free television operators through their own commercial negotiation.
Copyright exception must comply with the requirements of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization, including, among others, that any copyright exception shall not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder, and shall not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work. We believe that enacting laws that require free television operators to allow pay television operators to re-transmit free television programmes is not in compliance with the aforesaid requirements of TRIPS. This will also adversely affect the free television operators' incentives to invest in new DTT networks, and the existing pay television network capacity will be tapped for relaying the same free television programmes transmitted on the air. Such proposal is therefore not in line with our overall policy objectives of encouraging the broadcasting industry to invest and enriching the programme choices for viewers. We consider that the existing Copyright Ordinance already strikes a balance among the interests of all parties, protecting copyright on the one hand and accommodating the needs of television viewers on the other. We therefore do not see a need for a review on this matter.
(c) DTT has been launched for some three months and public response is positive. The Government has launched a series of promotional and education activities to promote DTT, and will continue to work with the industry to give the public a better understanding of DTT. The viewing public may then decide for themselves when to switch over. We believe that with a wider range of new digital reception products available at competitive prices in the market and more diversified programmes offered, the public will be ready to switch to DTT.
Ends/Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:11
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