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The following is issued on behalf of the Broadcasting Authority:
At its meeting today (June 11), the Broadcasting Authority approved TVB Pay Vision Limited (TVBPV)'s application to include in its non-domestic television programme service a channel receivable by the public in Asia including Hong Kong.
TVBPV's deemed non-domestic television programme service licence provided that the service or any part thereof should not be receivable by the public in or primarily targeting Hong Kong except with the approval of the Broadcasting Authority. The requirement was originally intended to be a safeguard against possible domination of local television programming by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) which wholly-owned TVBPV when its licence was granted in 1998. (TVB now only holds 49% shares in TVBPV.) The authority noted that the channel concerned was a general entertainment channel with Putonghua as its major broadcast language. As the channel was not produced by TVB or its subsidiaries, did not primarily target Hong Kong and the addition of the channel to TVBPV's channel line-up would not significantly change the overall nature of its non-domestic TV programme service, the authority was satisfied that approving the application will not compromise the regulatory safeguard in place.
The Broadcasting Authority also noted that in May, 2007, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing dealt with 94 cases (245 complaints) under her delegated authority, of which four cases (five complaints) were classified as minor breaches, and 68 cases (217 complaints) as unsubstantiated, under section 11 of the Broadcasting Authority Ordinance (BAO). 22 cases (23 complaints) were outside section 11 of the BAO. Please refer to the authority website: www.hkba.hk for details of the complaints.
Ends/Monday, June 11, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:28
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