Parties with vested interests have expressed strong views on many of the recommendations in this paper
(a) On 28 February 1986. TVB
objections to the BR B's
(b)
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(c)
structure on
Ltd. raised strong recommendations on corporate
the grounds that Government was notified of its corporate structure in 1983 and no objection was raised and that it was normal business practice to diversify investment.
In his letter of 30 November 1986 to Government (Annex H), Sir Run Run Shaw said that restrictions on foreign ownership and control should be placed on HK-TVB Ltd., the holding company, as well as TVB-Ltd., the licensee.
In a letter dated 4 January 1988 to the Governor (Annex I), BCIL informed Government that it had increased its shareholding in HK-TVB Ltd. to approximately 29%. BCIL argued strongly against the introduction of any additional restrictions on foreign ownership in a television licensee company. (A summary of BCIL's arguments and the Administration's comments is at Annex J.) Its main argument was that it had acted in good faith in accordance with the Attorney General's statement in November 1986 that "the structure, ownership and control of television licences should continue to be governed by existing policies and the spirit of existing legislation". (This argument is fallacious because, by implication, BCIL argued that the existing loophole (paragraphs 7 11 above) was part of existing policy which clearly is not Government's intention.) Following discussions with the Secretary for Administrative Services & Information on 22 February 1988, BCIL sent the letter at Annex K in an effort to reinforce their arguments. However, this letter merely begs the questions it attempts to answer.
Timetable
33
are
If the recommendations in paragraph 2 approved, drafting instructions for legislative amendments will be prepared with a view to submitting a Bill to this Council and Legislative Council in May-July 1988, and new licences can be prepared in time for renewal in December 1988. However, if the licensee(s) were to refuse to accept the new
terms and conditions, the licence(s) would not be renewed and a tender exercise would have to be conducted. In such event, as required by Sections 16(1) and (2) of the Television Ordinance respectively, the licensee(s) in