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Formulation of comprehensive broadcasting law
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr James So, in the motion debate on formulation of comprehensive broadcasting legislation in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I fully note the views expressed by Members at this debate and entirely share Members' desire to establish a broadcasting regulatory environment in Hong Kong that is open, fair, competitive and well-defined, and conducive to promoting Hong Kong as a broadcasting centre in Asia. I would like to state at the outset that this has been the cornerstone of our broadcasting policy. Contrary to what some Members said and understood, we have already provided such an environment for the broadcasting industry to develop, and Hong Kong is fast moving towards becoming a broadcasting centre in Asia.
Let me first describe our broadcasting policy and regulatory framework to give Members a clear idea of the kind of broadcasting environment already in place. Our broadcasting policy centres on the simple aim of providing the widest possible choice of programmes to the public at a reasonable cost. To achieve this policy aim, we have set up a broadcasting regulatory environment embodying the following principles:
The first is to open up the market to as many forms of broadcasting as the market can bear and to provide a level playing field for all broadcasters to freely pursue their business in a fair and equitable environment with the minimum necessary control from the Authorities. Our aim is to encourage fair competition within an open and simple regulatory framework, where each licensee knows clearly where he stands. Thus different licensing conditions are imposed on different forms of broadcasting to take account of their special circumstances, but all are required to observe certain common rules, such as those governing free competition, programme standards, advertising standards, technical standards, and customers services standards, etc. In this regard, I should point out that different codes of practice governing these areas are applied to terrestrial TV, subscription TV, satellite TV and sound broadcasting to reflect the difference in nature of their operations.