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PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA
the BBC. More use was made of the Commonwealth cable during the year. Programme material received by way of it included news items from London and New York; reports from East Africa by the Radio Hong Kong member of the East African Trade Delegation; a two-way Family Favourites with the BBC; and commentaries from the Singapore Grand Prix.
Commercial Radio's medium wave transmitting station at Peng Chau Island came on the air in March. The new 10 KW transmitters improved reception of the station over the entire Colony.
Both English and Chinese services concentrated on increasing their news programmes and outside broadcasts during the year.
Commentaries on the Singapore Grand Prix were broadcast live from Singapore via the Commonwealth cable and formed part of the station's comprehensive Spotlight on Sports. Thirteen con- certs in the Festival of Music and Fine Arts 1967 series were broadcast from the City Hall, and Schools Music Festival prize winning cencerts were broadcast on the bi-lingual service, which was increased from two to three hours daily. The Chinese service began an early morning disk jockey show in May, which has proved popular.
Rediffusion wired sound facilities are supplied by Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited, a locally controlled subsidiary of the organiza- tion which operates in Britain and in many Commonwealth countries. The sound service is distributed to practically all urban areas and to many outlying villages in the islands and New Territories, by more than 1,000 miles of main trunk lines and 3,000 miles of in- stallation cabling. At the end of the year there were 30,000 sub- scribers to the services. Rental for a speaker is $8.50 a month. There is a choice of four programmes. The Silver and Gold Chinese networks broadcast 17 hours daily, offering news, music and pro- grammes in a variety of dialects. The third Chinese programme broadcasts from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and provides a comprehen- sive school programme in Cantonese. The English service broadcasts an all-music programme, with news bulletins. It operates from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There are spot advertisements and just under a quarter of Rediffusion sound programmes are commercially sponsored.