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The following is issued on behalf of the Broadcasting Authority:
This press release summarises the outcomes of the Broadcasting Authority (BA)'s deliberations in August 2011:
At its meeting in August 2011, the BA decided to give a serious warning to TVB Pay Vision Limited (TVBPV) for a breach of Condition 15.2 of its non-domestic television programme service licence. The breach was caused by TVBPV's failure to notify the BA as soon as practicable of the launch of two channels and the cessation of eight channels on its non-domestic television programme service during the period from March 2009 to March 2011.
The BA also considered three complaint cases in respect of licensees' compliance with the relevant codes of practice on programme and advertising standards:
(a) A complaint against the television programme "Gen-X Cops" broadcast on the TVB Movies Channel of TVBPV on February 17, 2011. The BA decided that TVBPV should be advised to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards (TV Programme Code);
(b) A complaint against the television programme "Main News and Weather Report" broadcast on the World Channel of Asia Television Limited (ATV) on February 21, 2011. The BA considered that ATV was in contravention of the relevant provision of the TV Programme Code, but noted that the complaint was in essence the same as those against a recent precedent case for which a sanction had already been imposed on ATV. Taking into consideration that ATV was informed of the BA's decision on the precedent case on June 29, 2011, only after the programme concerned in the current complaint was broadcast, the BA decided that no further sanction should be imposed on ATV; and
(c) A complaint against the television programme "Samurai High School" broadcast on the J2 Channel of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) on March 11, 2011. The BA considered that TVB was in contravention of the relevant provision in the TV Programme Code but the lapse was in essence the same as those against the other programmes broadcast within the same period. Since a sanction had already been imposed on TVB for a precedent case, the BA decided that no further sanction should be imposed on TVB.
Further details of the above cases are available in the Appendix.
The BA noted that in July 2011, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing (CTEL) dealt with 130 cases (177 complaints) under its delegated authority, of which four cases (five complaints) were classified as minor breaches and 83 cases (124 complaints) were unsubstantiated. The remaining 43 cases (48 complaints) were held to be outside the ambit of the Broadcasting Authority Ordinance. The monthly complaint figures dealt with by CTEL from July 2010 to July 2011 are shown in Figure 1. A chart showing the respective nature of the unsubstantiated complaints classified by CTEL in July 2011 is at Figure 2. A chart showing the respective nature of complaints which were classified as minor breaches is at Figure 3.
Ends/Friday, September 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:03
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