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Friday, December 22, 1972
The Bill proposed a number of changes to the Ordinance particularly
in respect of the composition of licensee companies and share-holdings, the
composition of the Television Advisory Board, the amount of permitted advertising
time and rate of royalty.
The proposed legislation under the amending bill will require
television stations licensed under the Ordinance to ensure that at least
25% of the voting shares of the company are held by people resident in Hong
Kong at the time the licence is awarded and that this percentage should be
increased to not less than 51% during the four years immediately following
the granting of the licence. It will also require a licensee within four
years of the grant of the licence to list at least 25% of his voting shares
with a recognised stock exchange in Hong Kong. The amending bill makes it
clear that the sole business of a licensee company shall be the business of
television and a company who have been granted a licence will not be able to
acquire a controlling interest, or own more than 49% of the voting shares, of
any other company not directly connected with the operation of a television
broadcasting service.
With regard to the permitted level of advertising time the present
overall paximum of 10% in relation to total transmission time is retained but
the number of minutes of advertising permitted in any one hour will be increased
from 7 minutes in the hour to 10 minutes in the hour. In the past with one
television service licensed under the Television Ordinance and one service
licensed separately, maximum hourly advertising levels have varied between 7
and 16 minutes. The new level of a ten minute maximum in the hour is considered
to be a more realistic figure in the light of this past experience and in the
circumstances of competitive wireless television in the future.
The bill also