I
N
Wednesday, January 31, 1973
It passed its third and final reading in the Council with a number
of amendments.
The Hon. P.C. Woo, who also spoke on the Bill, said that some of
the amendments stemmed from submissions received by the UMELCO Office.
He indicated that some further amendments would be introduced at a
later stage.
Mr. Woo stressed that the Bill, as amended, would definitely serve
the public interest as well as ensure that the obligations to be borne by
those commercial concerns which succeeded in obtaining a licence would be
both "reasonable and equitablo."
Amendments
In reply, the Attorney General, the Hon. D.T.E. Roberts, explained
that the amendments to the Bill were designed to clarify the law and to modify
some provisions which seemed impracticable and others which might bear "somewhat
unfairly" on one or other of the licensees.
He agreed that the prime object of legislation dealing with television
should be to ensure that "the public interest is best served by a highly
influential medium of communication."
But, he added, at the same time
within the limits necessarily
imposed by the public interest, "the legislation should, so far as possible,
preserve a fair balance between the various licensees operating television
services."
Mr. Roberts told Council that the Government was prepared to introduce
suitable amendments to several clauses which had caused some concern to Unofficial
Members.
/One of these