Broadcasting Policy and Regulation

The broadcasting policy objectives are to promote programme choice and diversity through competition, to facilitate introduction of new, innovative broadcasting services and to enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional broadcasting hub.

    Pursuant to the policy initiatives arising from the comprehensive review of the television policy in 1998, the Government has put in place a transparent and technology-neutral regulatory regime under the Broadcasting Ordinance to foster fair and effective competition in the market and to promote plurality and diversity in television programme services.

    Under the Broadcasting Ordinance, the four categories of television programme services — domestic free, domestic pay, non-domestic and other licensable television programme services that may be licensed — are regulated in accordance with the nature and pervasiveness of the services rather than the transmission mode. The former two categories of licences are issued by the Chief Executive in Council, and the latter two by the Broadcasting Authority (BA).

    The Government has opened up the television market for competition and there are three more new domestic pay television programme service licensees. The new services are expected to bring in no fewer than 70 television programme channels.

    To encourage and facilitate the use of state-of-the-art technology in broadcasting services, the Government has conducted a public consultation on digital terrestrial broadcasting. It is reviewing the 23 submissions received and taking stock of the latest developments overseas with a view to finalising the way forward for digital broadcasting within 2003.

Broadcasting Authority

Licensed broadcasters are regulated by the BA, whose members are appointed from various sectors of the community, in addition to three public officers. The BA's major functions are to make recommendations to the Chief Executive in Council with respect to the licensing of domestic free and domestic pay television programme services and sound broadcasting services; to issue non-domestic and other licensable television programme service licences; to administer the provisions of licences; and to safeguard proper standards of television and sound broadcasting with regards to both programme content (including advertisements) and technical performance.

    During the year, the BA submitted its recommendations to the Chief Executive in Council on the renewal of the domestic free television programme service licences of Television Broadcasts Limited and Asia Television Limited and began the renewal exercises of the sound broadcast licences of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited and Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited. The BA commissioned a Broadcasting Services Survey and conducted public hearings in 2002 to collect public views on the services of the four broadcast licensees.

    In 2002, the BA's Complaints Committee dealt with 34 complaint cases involving a total of 952 complaints. Having considered the recommendations of the Complaints Committee, the BA issued seven warnings, one serious warning and imposed two financial penalties.

Television

Hong Kong's television viewers have access to over 100 domestic and non-domestic television programme service channels in various languages. These include four free-to-air terrestrial TV channels, 69 pay TV channels and a variety of free-to-air satellite channels.

Domestic Free Television Programme Services

The two domestic free television programme service licensees — Television Broadcasts Limited and Asia Television Limited — are each licensed to broadcast one Cantonese and one English channel. Both stations are required to broadcast programmes produced by the publicly funded Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).

Domestic Pay Television Programme Services

There are five domestic pay television programme service licensees in Hong Kong — Hong Kong Cable Television Limited (HKCTV), PCCW VOD Limited (PCCW VOD), Yes Television (Hong Kong) Limited (Yes TV), TV Plus (HK) Corp. Limited (formerly Pacific Digital Media (HK) Corp. Limited) (TV Plus) and Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited (Galaxy). At year-end, a total of 69 TV channels were being provided by HKCTV, Yes TV and TV Plus. The total number of subscribers exceeded 600 000.

Non-domestic Television Programme Services

Many regional and international broadcasters have chosen Hong Kong as their broadcasting centre in Asia, attracted by the excellent infrastructure and world-class telecommunications facilities, as well as the other advantages that make Hong Kong the best place to do business in Asia. There are 12 non-domestic television programme service licensees providing 55 satellite TV channels to the region, of which 24 channels are receivable in Hong Kong.

    The licensees are: Starvision Hong Kong Limited, Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited, APT Satellite TV Development Limited, Starbucks (HK) Limited, Asia Plus Broadcasting Limited, MATV Limited, China Entertainment Television Broadcast Limited, Turner International Asia Pacific Limited, Pacific Satellite International Limited, i-Cable Satellite Television Limited, Sun Television Cybernetworks Enterprise Limited and Pacific Century Matrix (HK) Limited.

Radio

Hong Kong has 13 radio channels—seven operated by RTHK, three by Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited and three by Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited.

Radio Television Hong Kong

RTHK is a publicly funded, editorially independent broadcaster whose mission is to provide quality programmes that inform, educate and entertain the people of Hong Kong. RTHK launched its Internet service in December 1994 and now provides 24-hour live webcast of its six radio channels and TV programmes, plus an online archive service for programmes broadcast in the past 12 months. The daily average access rate has reached over eight million website hits, 40 per cent of them coming from overseas.