NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
W(B)L 51-7406
CONFIDENTIAL
may, through business interests, be
connected with that Company.
Communal Aerials System
33. It is agreed by legal advisers,
here and in Hong Kong, that the terms of
RTV's licence can be construed as
conferring an exclusive right to
establish and operate special aerial
systems, both CATV and ADS; and that
the Hong Kong Government has the
power to cancel RTV's licence in the public
interest under the terms of the
Telecommunications Ordinance. In proposing
to withdraw this exclusive right so far
as the ADS system is concerned, the
Hong Kong Government is relying primarily
on the argument that the public interest
requires the breaking of RTV's monopoly
under which RTV could exercise a
measure of control over the transmission
of its competitors Rs. A secondary
reason is that RTV acquired these rights
accidentally.
34. The licence gives RTV the exclusive
right to establish and operate these
aerial systems as a service to the public.
An individual or a group of individuals
jointly could establish and operate such
aerial systems for their own use and this
would not fall within RTV's exclusive
right; but only RTV can provide a
service to the public, i.e. an owner
of a block of flats or a firm of
television engineers could not do so.
In the circumstances of Hong Kong the
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