XN000022-1977-09-23 — Page 6

5

-

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1977

TV AUDIENCE BENEFIT FROM +BATTLE OF THE RATINGS+

*****

HONG KONG'S TELEVISION INDUSTRY WENT THROUGH ANOTHER ACTIVE PERIOD LAST YEAR WITH THE VIEWING PUBLIC EMERGING AS THE REAL +WINNERS+ IN THE +BATTLE OF RATINGS+ WAGED BY THE THREE TV NETWORKS.

+NEVER BEFORE HAVE LOCAL VIEWERS HAD SUCH A RANGE OF COSTLY, LOCAL PRODUCTIONS AND SUCH A VARIETY OF IMPORTED LIVE AND FILMED MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO THEM -- ALMOST ALL IN COLOUR, + THE TELEVISION ADVISORY BOARD SAYS IN ITS LATEST ANNUAL REPORT PUBLISHED TODAY (FRIDAY).

THE REPORT SAYS THE INTENSIVE COMPETITION ON THE ALL- IMPORTANT CHINESE SERVICES BETWEEN THE THREE TV LICENSEES WAS THE MOST NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE YEAR WITH NEW PROGRAMME IDEAS AND SOURCES BEING DEVELOPED, PROGRAMME SCHEDULES FREQUENTLY RESTRUCTURED AND NEW DIMENSIONS OF DRAMA ALLIED TO DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF TALENT BEING CONTINUOUSLY EXPLORED IN THE QUEST FOR MASS AUDIENCE ATTRACTION.

BUT THE PRINCIPAL BENEFICIARY OF THIS COMPETITIVITY WAS THE VIEWING PUBLIC, THE BOARD SAYS.

HOWEVER, THE BOARD STATES, THE CONSEQUENT BENEFITS TO THE VIEWING AUDIENCE OF THIS COMPETITIVITY WAS ACHIEVED ONLY AT A PRICE THAT OF THE OVERALL PROFITABILITY OF THE COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OPERATIONS IN HONG KONG.

+TO SOME EXTENT THIS WAS FORESEEN BY US IN OUR LAST REPORT. WE STATED THEN THAT THERE MIGHT BE AREAS OF PLANNING WHERE THE STATIONS COULD CO-OPERATE WITH ONE ANOTHER TO HELP TO KEEP COSTS DOWN AND THAT WE WOULD VIEW ANY SUCH ACTION AS BEING IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PUBLIC. WE HAD NOT, HOWEVER, ANTICIPATED THE EXTENT OF THE INCREASE IN THE COMBINED OPERATIONAL COSTS OF THE THREE STATIONS WHICH DEVELOPED DURING 1976 AND WHICH, ACCORDING TO OUR ESTIMATES, HAVE REACHED THE POINT WHERE THEY HAVE OVERTAKEN COMBINED REVENUES BY A SUBSTANTIAL MARGIN.

+WE VIEW THIS SITUATION WITH GRAVE CONCERN AND IT IS WITH MUCH REGRET THAT WE NOTE THAT THERE HAS BEEN NO JOINT RESPONSE FROM THE LICENCEES TO OUR EARLIER SUGGESTION THAT THERE MIGHT BE AREAS WHERE CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE THREE COMPETITORS COULD HELP REDUCE COSTS.+

ONE PREDICTABLE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO THIS IMPROVED PROGRAMMING, IT ADDS, WAS A MARKED INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF COLOUR TELEVISION SETS PURCHASED DURING THE YEAR UNDER REVIEW.

+WHILE THE NUMBER OF TELEVISION HOMES REMAINED STABLE AT ABOUT 90 PER CENT OF ALL HOMES (APPROXIMATELY 860,000 TELEVISION HOMES), THE NUMBER OF HOMES WITH COLOUR TELEVISION INCREASED BY ALMOST 12 PER CENT. AND AT THE END OF 1976, THERE WERE AN ESTIMATED 351,000 HOMES WITH COLOUR TELEVISION SETS IN USE.+

ONE PROGRAMMING PROBLEM WHICH REQUIRED THE BOARD'S ATTENTION DURING THE YEAR WAS A TENDENCY LY PRODUCERS TO BE MORE EXPLICIT THAN THEY HAD BEEN IN THE PAST IN THE PORTRAYAL OF SEX IN TELEVISION DRAMA.

LAUT SWAT THE