21.
may be
B
clearly offering these when a week or
two old could affect our standing with the press,
and (b) that we are sent only two copies of features
instead of the usual four plus two sets of
illustrations to cut down on freight as the extra copies are hardly ever required.
GIPD's material is also very satisfactory and the only relevant comment here is perhaps to remind the Department that there are good and under-
utilised facilities for fast communication between
London and Hong Kong and we should welcome as much material on Britain's economic policies (over a wide field) as it cares to send: there is a good
chance that we can use such material if it can
arrive reasonably quickly whereas items e.g. verbatim texts, by bag take 5-7 days or more to arrive and
tend to be history when received.
New Developments
22. While there have been some minor changes in the
press there is little to report here except perhaps in developments in television. For some years the Colony has been served by two stations both
broadcasting in colour and on Chinese and English channels. One of these, Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Ltd, which operated a wired service to subscribers closed down during the period under review and a new company was formed, Rediffusion Television (in which the "old" British company holds 65% of the shares) to broadcast a wireless service in Chinese and English. There is strong competition and little love lost between the two stations. Their income will be
badly hit when a third station broadcasting in Chinese only comes on the air in mid-1975, Commercial Television Ltd (the controlling interest in which is held by Hong Kong Commercial Radio), to
9
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