- 8 -
-
Satellite TV mid-term review
The Broadcasting Authority (BA) announced its work plan for the mid-term review of the Satellite Television Uplink and Downlink Licence of Hutchvision Hong Kong Ltd today (Tuesday).
The Hutchvision's licence to broadcast was a non- exclusive licence issued on December 18, 1990 by the Governor-in-Council (GIC) for a period of 12 years, expiring in 2002.
The licence includes a provision stipulating that the BA shall review the performance of the licensee with respect to the conditions of the licence at mid-term in consultation with Hutchvision, on, or within 90 days of, the fifth anniversary of the grant of the licence viz. December 18, 1995; and the BA shall report thereon to the GIC.
The BA will concentrate on evaluating the licensee's performance vis-a-vis the various statutory requirements and licensing conditions, and consider whether any changes need be made to those conditions taking into consideration the licensee's performance, public demands and the rapidly changing broadcasting environment insofar as it might make certain licence conditions inappropriate.
I
A spokesman for the BA said the mid-term review would involve government departments, Hutchvision and the public.
The job of compiling statistics and gathering information from the various government departments will be undertaken by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) as the executive arm of the BA.
Hutchvision will be invited to make written submissions to the BA regarding its views, concerns and plans for the remaining six years of its current licence. The licensee will also be consulted, at a later stage, on any proposed amendments to the licence conditions resulting from the review.
To obtain opinions from the viewers of STAR TV (the satellite service provided by Hutchvision), the BA will commission an independent satellite television broadcasting survey among the local Satellite Master Antenna Television (SMATV) users (about 400,000 households) in 1995.
I
The survey will cover areas including viewing habits, the quality of programmes, and the programme and advertising standards etc. The field work of the survey will be carried out in summer this year.
T