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In response to media enquiries, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) today (August 25) said the department had followed established procedures in inviting tenders for television programme production and broadcasting of the East Asian Games Torch Relay and the 100-day Countdown Show.
LCSD had earlier on discussed with six local television stations regarding the live-broadcast of the torch relay. They said that they had no plan to live broadcast it either separately or jointly. The department hoped that the event could be broadcast on a free TV channel so that more members of the public might watch it. Therefore, LCSD followed existing procurement procedures to engage a local television station through tendering to undertake the production of the launching ceremony, venue set-up, live-broadcast production, filming of the torch relay and broadcasting it on a free TV channel. Another tender document was issued to invite a local TV station to produce the 100-day Countdown Show, which would include the last leg of the torch relay and the lighting of cauldron, for broadcast on a free TV channel.
The department sent out the tender document for these two events to two local free television stations by registered mail on June 29. The Hong Kong Post confirmed that the documents were successfully delivered to the two stations on June 30.
Ends/Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 21:48
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