PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA
207
Television Broadcasts Limited, who were awarded a franchise for transmitting wireless television programmes in Hong Kong, will operate transmitters for both Chinese and English programmes and plan to erect translator systems to overcome the technical problems created by terrain. Tests have established, however, that most of the population of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon will be reached by the main transmitters.
In July an internationally-known television executive was appoint- ed general manager and in August a Hong Kong-born television engineer, then working overseas, was appointed to take charge of the installation and maintenance of equipment. The site acquired near the mouth of the Lion Rock tunnel in Lung Cheung Road will be used for the purpose of constructing a Television Centre to include studios and other facilities. It is anticipated that the service will commence in the last quarter of 1967.
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FILM INDUSTRY
Accurate figures for the purposes of comparison are hard to establish, but it may well be that Hong Kong is the world's largest film producing centre. The best figures available for any recent year show that Hong Kong film companies produced 310 feature films, compared with 271 made in India, 225 in Japan and 155 made by United States film companies. A variety of factors, in- cluding weather, may prevent Hong Kong remaining consistently in the lead, but it is obvious that the Colony holds a major position in the film world. Many productions are the work of small studios on low budgets, but the industry also has its moguls and its ex- travaganzas in full colour and wide screen, and these more ambitious productions have won many awards at film festivals in Asia.
Hong Kong continues to be a favourite location for film companies from abroad and 1966 produced a record number of feature films shot in the Colony. Among these were 'The Sand Pebbles', 'Seven Golden Dragons', 'Sumuru', 'The Vengeance of Fu Man Chu' and "The Corrupt Ones'. Producers now know that in Hong Kong they can find not only spectacular scenery and background but also the skilled technicians and modern services essential for sophisticated film work.