PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA
207
with results, commentaries and of course special attention to the Hong Kong participants.
REDIFFUSION
Wired sound and television are supplied by Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited, a locally controlled subsidiary of the organization which operates in Britain and in many other Commonwealth countries. The wired sound service is distributed to practically all the urban areas and to many outlying villages in the islands and New Territories by more than 1,000 miles of main trunk lines and another 3,000 miles of installation cabling. At the end of the year there were 37,003 subscribers to these sound services. Rental for a speaker is $10 a month, giving a choice of three programmes. Just less than a quarter of Rediffusion sound programmes are commercially sponsored. The two Chinese programmes are each broadcast for seventeen hours daily, offering news, music and other programmes in a variety of dialects. The English service broadcasts between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
Hong Kong was the first British Colony to operate a television service and the Rediffusion network now has two channels and by the end of the year 36,535 subscribers. The television services carry advertising and a number of shows on both channels are commercially sponsored. The two channels provide some 75 hours of viewing each week. The original service was opened in May 1957 and the new Chinese channel in September 1963. While both channels carry popular filmed,shows from Britain and America the Chinese programme in particular includes many live shows from the fully equipped studios at Rediffusion House. Quiz shows are especially popular but live opera performances, variety shows and interviews are also shown. In television as well as in radio the outside broadcast is playing its part in creating among viewers a greater understanding of current events in the Colony and almost every day Rediffusion's cameras are out covering local events and incidents.
The rental fee for a television set is $55 a month which includes the receiver itself and its maintenance. Subscribers with their own receivers pay $25 to cover the programme fee, licence and main- tenance. The network is now reaching out from the urban areas