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The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:
The Communications Authority (CA) will conduct a one-month public consultation exercise for the renewal of the domestic pay television programme service (pay TV service) licence of PCCW Media Limited, starting from November 1.
The licence of PCCW Media commenced on September 26, 2003, and will expire after September 25, 2015. Pursuant to section 11(3) of the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562), the CA shall process PCCW Media's licence renewal application and submit recommendations to the Chief Executive in Council (CE in C). The CA has decided to conduct a one-month public consultation from November 1 to November 30, 2013, to gauge public views on the service of PCCW Media.
Members of the public may forward their views in writing to the CA on or before November 30, by mail to 20/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai; by fax to 2507 2219; or by email to consultation-pccwmedia@ofca.gov.hk .
As part of the public consultation exercise, the CA will hold two public hearings at the Leighton Hill Community Hall and Mong Kok Community Hall from 7pm to 9pm on November 14 and November 22 respectively. Starting from October 31, members of the public may call 2961 6489 or visit the website of the CA at www.coms-auth.hk for details and registration.
To enable the public to give views on different areas of PCCW Media's performance, the CA has published an information booklet containing summaries of the current programming and advertising requirements for pay TV service, PCCW Media's service, complaints records and its investment plan.
Members of the public can collect the information booklet at district offices of the Home Affairs Department or download it from the CA website (www.coms-auth.hk) starting from October 31.
As an independent statutory body that regulates broadcasting services in Hong Kong, the CA will evaluate PCCW Media's performance against various statutory requirements as well as requirements under the licence and the codes of practice, and take into account public views before making recommendations to the CE in C on the licence renewal application of PCCW Media.
Ends/Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:01
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