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The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:
This press release summarises the outcome of the Communications Authority (CA)'s deliberations in June and July 2012:
Digital terrestrial television coverage extended to 99 per cent of population by third quarter of 2013
The CA approved the applications of Asia Television Limited (ATV) and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) to extend the period for exemption from the territory-wide coverage of their digital terrestrial television (DTT) services up to December 31, 2013, subject to the condition that the DTT services should extend to cover at least 98 per cent of the population by December 31, 2012, and to further extend to be on a par with that of analogue television services, which is at least 99 per cent of the population, by September 30, 2013.
The licensees are also required to submit to the CA a progress report by February 28, 2013, setting out the progress they have made and, if the progress is unsatisfactory, a detailed plan of alternative measures with a view to achieving the 99 per cent coverage target. The CA will closely monitor the performance of the two licensees to ensure their compliance with their implementation plan to achieve the coverage target.
Section 18(1) of the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562) (BO) requires ATV and TVB (the licensees) to provide their television programme services in such a manner as to enable their services to be received throughout Hong Kong to the satisfaction of the CA. Section 18(2) of the BO empowers the CA to exempt the licensees from providing coverage to certain parts of Hong Kong.
Since the launch of their DTT services on December 31, 2007, the licensees have been progressively expanding their digital transmission networks. By the end of 2011, the licensees had constructed a total of six principal stations and 23 fill-in stations and had achieved DTT coverage of at least 96 per cent of the population by then. The licensees now plan to increase the transmitting power of 17 fill-in stations and conduct coverage validation surveys in order to further extend their DTT coverage. Subject to the field validation results, the DTT coverage is expected to reach at least 98 per cent of the population before the end of 2012 and to rise further to at least 99 per cent of the population by the third quarter of 2013, which is on a par with that of analogue television broadcasting.
The above exemption is specific to the licensees' DTT coverage. The two licensees will continue to be required to provide their analogue television services on a territory-wide basis to the satisfaction of the CA.
Other licensable television programme service licences
The CA approved the applications of Marriott Hong Kong Limited and Royal Park Hotel Management Limited to surrender their other licensable television programme service licences with effect from February 13, 2012, and May 22, 2012, respectively. The CA noted that the surrender of licences was a commercial decision for the two licensees. Following the surrender of these two licences, there are 26 other licensable television programme service licensees providing television programme services to hotels in Hong Kong.
Telecommunications network outage cases
The CA considered the following two outage incidents concerning telecommunications networks:
(a) The outage of the network of SmarTone Communications Limited and SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited (collectively "SmarTone") on April 9, 2012, causing disruption to its mobile voice services, mobile Internet services, short message services and some data services (including mobile content services, voice mail services and stock quotes services). The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) conducted an investigation into the incident. After considering the assessment of OFCA, the CA concluded that SmarTone had not complied with General Condition 5.1 of its licences, requiring it to operate, maintain and provide a good, efficient and continuous service in a manner satisfactory to the CA. Having considered carefully the circumstances of the case and taken all factors into account, the CA concluded that a financial penalty of $130,000 imposed on SmarTone is proportionate and reasonable in relation to the breach. For details, please refer to the CA's Decision, which is published on the CA's website (www.coms-auth.hk/filemanager/common/policies_regulations/ca_decisions/smartone_outage_20120413.pdf).
(b) The outage of the network of PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited (collectively "HKT") on April 13, 2012, causing disruption to its residential and commercial broadband services, Now TV services and One Communications services (Note). OFCA conducted an investigation into the incident. After considering the assessment of OFCA, the CA concluded that there has been no breach by HKT of General Condition 5.1 of its licence, requiring it to operate, maintain and provide a good, efficient and continuous service in a manner satisfactory to the CA. For details, please refer to the CA's Decision, which is published on the CA's website (www.coms-auth.hk/filemanager/common/policies_regulations/ca_decisions/hkt_outage_20120409.pdf).
Complaint cases
The CA considered three complaint cases in respect of the broadcasting licensees' non-compliance with the relevant codes of practice on programme and advertising standards:
(a) A complaint against the television programme "South Weather Forecast" broadcast on the TVS Channel of ATV on November 3, 2011. The CA decided that ATV should be warned to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards (TV Programme Code) and the Generic Code of Practice on Television Advertising Standards (TV Advertising Code);
(b) A complaint against the television programmes "6:00 News" and "Late News" broadcast on the Home Channel of ATV on November 15, 2011. The CA decided that ATV should be strongly advised to observe more closely the relevant provision in the TV Advertising Code; and
(c) A complaint against the radio advertisement for "Marinella" broadcast on the Metro Finance Channel of Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited in October 2011. The CA decided to classify the complaint as a minor breach.
Further details of the above complaint cases are available in the Appendix.
Note: One Communications offers services to business customers, including broadband services, Wi-Fi services, business telephony (i.e. voice over IP) services, unified-messaging services and fixed/mobile convergence features.
Ends/Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:00
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