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Hong Kong offers best support facilities to broadcasters
International broadcasters setting up in Hong Kong can call on some of the best supporting facilities in the world, the Deputy Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mrs Rita Lau, said this (Tuesday) morning.
Addressing the opening of the 1996 Pan Asia Satellite and Cable TV Conference and Exhibition at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, Mrs Lau said that as well as the strength in depth of Hong Kong's infrastructure and excellent communications, there were specific advantages to locating broadcasting operations in Hong Kong.
First, Hong Kong has the supporting industries that broadcasters need. "Here, you will find offices of the world's biggest advertising agencies, the best qualified audience research companies, the most respected news bureaux, Asia's most sophisticated pre-and-post production facilities, and the region's most advanced telecommunications companies.
"In short, all the ingredients that international broadcasters need to make their business work," she said.
Secondly, the territory has a critical mass of broadcasting talent which is probably unmatched in East and Southeast Asia. In this respect, the local broadcasting industry already employs several thousand people, and organisations such as the Vocational Training Council and other tertiary institutions are committed to training the new generations of engineers, technicians, journalists and presenters needed to staff the fast-growing broadcasting industry.
Thirdly, Mrs Lau continued, Hong Kong has a transparent and fair regulatory system which sets out clearly what is expected of broadcasters in terms of programme standards and practices, and then leaves them to get on with running their business.
"We do not practise pre-censorship, and we do not impose restrictions on the reception of satellite programming in Hong Kong," she stressed.
Moreover, for those seeking to address Asia's largest market, China, there are particular benefits to locating in Hong Kong because "nowhere else can match the combination of proximity, knowledge of market conditions, and the wide range of business and official contacts which make doing business in China so much easier."
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