TNAG-0330-FCO40-366-Visit-of-Parliamentary-Under-Secretary-of-State--Anthony-Roy-1972 — Page 97

CONFIDENTIAL

the new services would be put out in September. would have

This

could meant 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

They therefore placed orders for

tender successfully.

a considerable amount of new equipment.

Godde

3. Rediffusion again made representations this time

personally

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.

in isonna

L

Rediffusion's case, was that the further delay liest

bat the

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. A 403

4.

в

Red Efusions memera dum a back the

Colorine devretariat

saw Bit to reply direct to Part of the reason for the further delay was that

the Government's proposals envisaged the sharing of

transmission sites in future; and TVB (HK)

Rediffusions;

main competitor were strongly opposed to these pro-

Rediffmain on the other bound faround them

posals. Hong Kong sought the advice of the BBC on

LH

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

mitters was desirable it was not absdutely essential.

5. Mr Ryle 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.

6.M Nigel Watt has been appointed Commissioner for

2

CONFIDENTIAL

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