COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
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Metro Broadcast
Metro Broadcast operates three commercial radio services. Hit Radio, a Chinese FM channel featuring Chinese and Western pop music, is aimed at young people. FM Select, a bilingual channel, targets those aged 25 and over with a variety of contemporary music.
Metro Plus, on the AM band, comprises mainly news and current affairs programmes in English and other languages.
Film Industry
Hong Kong is a major film-producing centre. During the year, Hong Kong produced 657 films and videos compared with 503 in 1995. Action films and comedies. continued to dominate the market. The biggest box-office hits for the year included First Strike ($57 million), Independence Day ($49 million) and Mission Impossible ($39 million). The film Summer Snow won the best movie, best director, best actor and best actress awards at the 15th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Cinema-going remains a popular leisure activity, with mini-cinemas becoming more and more common. A good variety of imported and local films is offered to the audiences. Attendances in 1996 totalled 27 million at 172 cinemas, compared with 28 million and 180 cinemas in 1995.
Hong Kong has a three-tier film classification system: Category I; Category II (subdivided into Category II, and II); and Category III. The objective is to allow adults wide access to films while protecting people under the age of 18 from exposure to material which may be harmful to them. The classifications mean: Category I suitable for all ages; Category IIA not suitable for children; Category IIB suitable for young persons and children; and Category III -suitable for persons aged 18 and above only.
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Category II and II, classifications are advisory in nature (no age restriction is imposed) and are intended to give more information to movie-goers, particularly parents, in the selection of films for themselves or their children. Age restriction is mandatory for Category III films.
During the year, 1 843 films were submitted for classification, compared with 1 807 in 1995. Of these, 311 were classified Category I (one with excisions), 369 Category IIA (one with excisions), 534 Category II (41 with excisions) and 629 Category III (270 with excisions). Film trailers, instructional films and cultural films intended for public exhibition also require censorship but do not need to be classified into any categories. In 1996, 8 952 such items were approved for exhibition.
Film classification standards are kept in line with community standards by regular surveys of community views and consultation with a statutory panel of advisers. The panel comprises about 300 members drawn from a wide cross-section of the community. These advisers give their views to the film censors on the appropriate classification of a film. The censors' decisions on film classifications may be reviewed by the Board of Review (Film Censorship), a statutory body established under the Film Censorship Ordinance. The Board comprises nine non-official members and the Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport as an ex officio member. There was no review of censors' decisions in 1996.