TNAG-0330-FCO40-366-Visit-of-Parliamentary-Under-Secretary-of-State--Anthony-Roy-1972 — Page 124

CONFIDENTIAL

Le new services would be put out in September.

This

could mean an on-air date of mid 1973. RTV(HK) accepted

that the decision to call for tenders could not be

reversed, and felt they were in a strong position to

tender successfully. They therefore placed orders for

a considerable amount of new equipment.

K

Rediffusion again made representations this time

to Mr Royle - in July this year in view of further delays

in the Hong Kong Government's timetable which meant that

the call for tenders would not be made until the end of

the year.

Rediffusion's case was that the further delay,

which would entail an on-air date of early or mid-1974, would cost

them at least £100,000 and much more if the proceedings

were further protracted.

Part of the reason for the further delay was that

the Government's proposals envisa ed the sharing of

transmission sites in future and TVP (HK)

Rediffusion';

main competitor were strongly opposed to these pro-

posals. Hong Kong sought the advice of the BFC on

co-siting, and were told that whilst co-siting of trans-

mitters was desirable it was not absdutely essential.

Mr yle had a word with the Governor in September

about Rediffusion's representations to him. We have

subsequently learnt that Hong Kong are continuing their discussions with TVB and are hopeful that they may be

prepared to modify their attitude. In order to gain

time for the solution of the problem, legislation has

been introduced into the Legislative Council to extend TVB's current licence unchanged (it expires on

19 November) for a limited period. The Governor hopes

that it will still be possible to call for tenders for

the new stations before the end of the year.

Nigel Watt has been appointed Commissioner for

2 CONFIDENTIAL

/Television

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