TNAG-0265-FCO40-301-Legislation-for-copyright-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 86

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all night. But this

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(a) getting TVB off the ground was not an

object of our decision, though the result may be commercially favourable to it;

(b) we do not regard our decision as "clipping RTV's wings", since a right to relay a competitor's programmes without permission, and thus benefit commercially from the competitor's efforts and enterprise, is not, in all commonsense, an aid to flight which RTV can reasonably claim.

The other phrase which you describe as "emotive" ("pirating TVB's output") was certainly not emotive for us and does no more than accurately describe the actual position which could well arise if a broadcasting company does not have control of relay.

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In paragraph 3, you ask whether the fact that TVB has made its own way and is now doing very well renders unnecessary the legislation which was undoubtedly aimed at RTV. I hope that you will forgive me if, before seeking to answer your question, I reiterate what must be amply clear from earlier parts of my letter, namely, that clause 4 of the Copyright Bill is not and never has been "aimed at" RTV.

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The brief answer to your question is that the Copyright Bill was not drawn as it is with a view to ensuring TVB's success, and consequently the fact that the Company has been successful is not a relevant consideration. Furthermore :-

was the britnation in

1962 when the matter ・fiver omsidered

Mr.

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(a) to approach the matter in this way is to

consider it solely in an RTV/TVB context, which we can no longer do for reasons which I have already given;

(b) I do not see how TVB's commercial success

can possibly justify our tampering with what is accepted by us all to be the correct principle.

In this general context, there are two new factors of which you may not be aware, though I do not think that either of them affects the main considerations.

(a) As it happens, from the limited standpoint that its broadcasts can be widely received without relay because the technical difficulties which were at one time envisaged about reception of wireless television have not materialised or have been largely overcome, TVB is not likely to want to use its relay rights to authorize relay of its broadcasts, though it would, of course, use them in the negative sense to restrain an unauthorized relay.

(b) RTV has now introduced an attachment

aerial for use with its modern sets (about a quarter of those in use) which enables its customers to receive TVB's broadcasts through RTV's sets without a relay.

/13 In paragraph 4,

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