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that Lord Derwent fully appreciated these points, and he may possibly return to the subject.
Hutchison and WSTV have both tried to enlist our support for
the introduction of a subscription service and for permission to
broadcast in Cantonese on the BBC WSTV channel. At present the
terms of Hutchison's licence from the Hong Kong Government do not
permit either. We have pointed out that these are properly matters for the Hong Kong authorities. They have told Hutchison and WSTV
that the question of a subscription TV service is being reviewed,
but that they can hold out no prospect of an immediate end to the
ban on Cantonese programming, because they have recently written to
the two local television companies in Hong Kong assuring them that
restrictions preventing new Cantonese broadcasters would continue
for three years. Lord Derwent may well raise these issues, but we
can add nothing to what we and the Hong Kong authorities have
already said. Hutchison are however free to broadcast in Mandarin
Chinese, and the BBC channel, if it goes ahead, will begin operating in both English and Mandarin.