CONFIDENTIAL
the new services would be put out in September. would have
This
could meant an on-air date of mid 1973. RTV (HK) accepted
that the decision to call for tenders could not be
reversed, and felt they were in a strong position to
They therefore placed orders for
tender successfully.
a considerable amount of new equipment.
Godde
3. Rediffusion again made representations this time
personally
to Mr Royle in July this year in view of further delays
-
in the Hong Kong Government's timetable which meant that
the call for tenders would not be made until the end of
the year.
in isonna
L
Rediffusion's case, was that the further delay liest
bat the
which would entail an on-air date of early or mid-1974, would cost
them at least £100,000 and much more if the proceedings
were further protracted. A 403
4.
в
Red Efusions memera dum a back the
Colorine devretariat
saw Bit to reply direct to Part of the reason for the further delay was that
the Government's proposals envisaged the sharing of
transmission sites in future; and TVB (HK)
Rediffusions;
main competitor were strongly opposed to these pro-
Rediffmain on the other bound faround them
posals. Hong Kong sought the advice of the BBC on
LH
co-siting, and were told that whilst co-siting of trans+
mitters was desirable it was not absdutely essential.
5. Mr Ryle had a word with the Governor in September
about Rediffusion's representations to him. We have
subsequently learnt that Hong Kong are continuing their
discussions with TVB and are hopeful that they may be
prepared to modify their attitude. In order to gain
time for the solution of the problem, legislation has
been introduced into the Legislative Council to extend TVB's current licence unchanged (it expires on
19 November) for a limited period. The Governor hopes
that it will still be possible to call for tenders for
the new stations before the end of the year.
6.M Nigel Watt has been appointed Commissioner for
2
CONFIDENTIAL
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