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PUBLICATIONS, BROADCASTING AND FILMS
Sound Relay. The Rediffusion sound service extends to prac- tically all the urban areas and to many outlying villages on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories. The system has more than 1,000 miles of main trunk network and about 2,500 miles of installation cabling. Distribution is via sub-stations, kiosks and feeders to more than 50,000 loudspeakers. The parent company first operated 35 years ago in the United Kingdom and now operates in many parts of the Commonwealth; the Hong Kong company, locally controlled, is part of this world-wide organization.
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Today Rediffusion operates with facilities which rank among the most modern in the Far East. These include seven air- conditioned sound studios, from which two simultaneous Chinese sound programmes go out daily for 17 hours each on the Silver and Gold Networks. A third sound network-the Blue-broadcasts in English from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily with a late night session of uninterrupted music.
Just less than a quarter of Rediffusion programmes are com- mercially sponsored. The Chinese networks offer music, news, drama, talks, sports, commentaries, women's features, children's shows, comedy, story-telling and theatre relays in Cantonese, Kuoyu, Swatow, Hakka, Shanghai and other dialects. The English service gives continuous daily broadcasts of musical entertainment, plays, studio shows, news, BBC and other relays, sports events, stock- market news and features for women and children.
Special charity broadcasts have helped to raise millions of dollars for needy families. Rediffusion employs 710 local staff of whom 99 per cent are Chinese, in addition to a great many musicians, soloists, story-tellers and dramatic artistes. Rental for a loudspeaker is $10 a month, and subscribers have a choice of three programmes which, together, involve the origination of 46 hours of sound programmes each day. Additional loudspeakers in the same residence cost $5 a month.
Television. Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Ltd opened the first televi- sion station in any British Colony in May 1957 and it has been growing ever since. With the introduction of the Chinese television network in September, the original network was reorganized to carry evening programming entirely in English. Rediffusion House now embraces two fully-equipped television stations serving the English and Chinese networks. There are two main studios each