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Speech by Secretary for Recreation & Culture on Budget
Following is a speech by the Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr TH Chau, at the Budget debate in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Several Members have asked that the royalties paid by ATV and TVB be reduced or waived altogether. In the consultation document on our pay TV review which was issued recently, we concluded that the case for reducing royalty rates for ATV and TVB beyond the cuts already made in 1993 had not been established. But we have also made it clear that we are prepared to listen to the representations of broadcasters and others, and we shall of course do so in the current consultation exercise.
In both the consultation document on our pay TV review and the VOD consultation document which was published in February, we have stated very clearly that, because of the rapid development of technology, we will carry out a review of the TV market and our TV policies in 1998. The timing of this review explains why there is no provision in the 1996/97 estimates for the retention of a consultancy firm to undertake a study of the TV market. We do, of course, intend to commission such a study in the 1997/98 financial year and use it as the basis for the review scheduled for 1998.
Several Members have urged the Government to set up a publicly funded film commission to assist the development of the film industry. Mr Acting President, our film industry has grown and thrived in the past twenty years without such a film commission and without any subsidy from the public purse. The credit for this success, of course, goes entirely to our creative and entrepreneurial private sector, or if I may say, the film industry. And that is exactly the way that it should be, given the Government's long-standing and well-proven economic policy of minimum intervention in market forces and leaving businessmen to have the freedom to make their decisions. But the Government for its part has also assisted by providing a business-friendly environment in which the film and other service industries can grow and prosper.
We have studied and considered the functions of the proposed film commission carefully. Some of these are already being carried out as part of our existing services; and others will be pursued in the context of the Financial Secretary's Task Force on the promotion of the services sector. For example, we have started discussions with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council on the hosting of a film trade fair in Hong Kong next year. We will also be exploring with the TDC the possibility of their taking on the task of promoting our film industry overseas. We will of course continue to maintain an active dialogue with, and seek to improve our service to, film industry. However, we do not believe that there is sufficient justification for the establishment of yet another organisation financed by public funds, especially in face of our many other competing priorities.
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