XN000022-1986-03-19 — Page 5

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1986

+ WHATEVER DECISIONS ARE MADE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF BROADCASTING, THEY MUST BE BASED ON COMMON SENSE AND SOUND JUDGEMENT, AND ABOVE ALL THEY MUST BE MADE IN THE WIDER PUBLIC INTEREST,+ HE SAID.

SIR DAVID POINTED OUT THAT FEW REPORTS OF A SIMILAR NATURE HAD AROUSED SUCH DEBATE AND DIVERSITY OF OPINION AND PUBLIC INTEREST AS THE REPORT OF THE BROADCASTING REVIEW BOARD.

HE SAID THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD RECEIVED OVER 800 SUBMISSIONS AND THAT THE REPORT HAD BEEN DISCUSSED BY ALMOST ALL DISTRICT BOARDS AND HAD BEEN THE SUBJECT OF INTENSE ATTENTION IN THE PRESS.

+A REPORT IS NOW BEING WRITTEN SUMMARISING AND ANALYSING ALL THE VIEWS RECEIVED DURING THE PERIOD OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION, AND THIS REPORT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC SHORTLY, HE SAID.

SIR DAVID SAID THAT THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES WHICH HAD BEEN SPELT OUT BY DR THE HON HO KAM-FAI CONSTITUTED AN IMPORTANT SUMMARY OF THE MAIN THEMES WHICH HAD EMERGED FROM THIS PERIOD OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION.

HE ADDED THAT MEMBERS HAD RIGHTLY POINTED OUT THAT LICENCE TO BROADCAST WAS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER KINDS OF COMMERCIAL LICENCE AND ENTERPRISE IT WAS SUBJECT NOT ONLY TO NORMAL COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVES BUT PLACED ON THE LICENSEES, THE OPERATORS, A HEAVY PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY.

THEY WERE FRANCHISED TO USE A PUBLIC ASSET WHICH, HE SAID, ALTHOUGH INVISIBLE, REACHED INTO EVERY HOUSE THEY HAD A SOLEMN DUTY TO EXERCISE THIS RESPONSIBILITY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

+AND, BECAUSE IT IS A PUBLIC TRUST, BECAUSE OF ITS ALL PERVADING NATURE. THE GOVERNMENT OF ANY PLACE HAS WITH JUSTIFICATION TO APPLY TO THE BROADCASTING INDUSTRY SENSIBLE RESTRAINTS AND A GREATER DEGREE OF REGULATION AND SUPERVISION THAN WOULD BE APPLICABLE TO OTHER COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES OPERATING IN AN ENTIRELY FREE MARKET,+ SIR DAVID SAID.

THIS WAS THE BACKGROUND AGAINST WHICH THE BROADCASTING REVIEW BOARD'S PROPOSALS HAD TO BE JUDGED, HE ADDED.

THE PROPOSALS INCLUDED THE CREATION OF A PUBLIC BROADCASTER WITH GUARANTEED ACCESS TO TELEVISION PRIME TIME MEASURES AIMED AT RESTORING A MORE COMPETITIVE SITUATION, ESTABLISHMENT OF A BROADCASTING AUTHORITY; AND THAT THE PUBLIC BROADCASTER, OR RADIO TELEVISION HONG KONG, SHOULD COME UNDER THE GENERAL SUPERVISION OF A BOARD OF GOVERNORS.

THE REPORT ALSO DEALT WITH THE ISSUES OF CABLE TELEVISION AND SATELLITE BROADCASTS, SIR DAVID POINTED OUT.

+ IT IS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE THAT AN APPLICATION HAS BEEN MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT TO OPERATE A CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE TO ONE OF OUR LARGE RESIDENTIAL ESTATES, HE SAID.

/IT WAS