11.
Approval of a video-on-demand trial by HK Telephone Company Ltd
The Telecommunications Authority (TA) has given his approval to Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC) to conduct a commercial trial on Video-on- Demand (VOD), subject to a number of conditions:
Programme Material HKTC undertakes that no Category III films or "indecent" material as classified under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance will be used in the trial. HKTC further undertakes not to transmit any advertising materials in the trial.
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Open Network Requirement HKTC will need to open up its network to allow any other potential VOD operator to conduct similar trials on fair and non- discriminatory terms and conditions.
Separation of Accounts HKTC will need to operate the VOD trial service totally separate from all the existing services that it is operating to ensure that there is no cross subsidisation between the VOD trial and any other services.
The approval is for a trial period of six months and HKTC is permitted to charge tariffs for the trial service as approved by the TA.
The trial is approved without prejudice to the TA's consideration on future proposals on further trials or the actual introduction of a commercial VOD service.
The Telecommunications Authority, Mr Alexander Arena,said: "The approval is given after consideration of the following:
a likely public concern over decency of programme materials to be used in the trial;
the desirability for HKTC as the existing monopoly operator to open up its transmission network for other service providers to be able to perform similar trials under Hong Kong's pro-competition regulatory framework;
the necessary regulatory safeguards to prevent cross-subsidisation between the VOD trial and other services currently operated by HKTC; and
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.