CONFIDENTIAL
機密
3
XCC(72)92
Authority any special services catering for minority groups which they may wish to offer: paragraphs 19 to 23 describe the kind of service it is hoped they will provide. After tenders close, they will be processed in the same way as those for the second licence, although additional time may be required to study any proposals made for special services.
Frequencies
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The Working Party put forward a frequency plan which was adopted by Members at the meeting of Council on 28th March 1972. The plan is designed to make the most efficient use of the limited number of channels in Bands IV and V, these two Bands being the only ones which international conventions allow Hong Kong to use for television transmissions, It provided for the main transmitters of the three licensees to operate in Band IV and for transmitting masts to be shared in order to ensure that the majority of Hong Kong viewers might be able to receive a choice of television without having to buy new receiving aerials. It thus involved the reallocation of some of TVB's existing frequencies. It did not however affect TVB's main transmitter frequencies and kept disruption of their service to a minimum.
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Since Members approved the plan, TVB has objected to it on the ground that the reallocation of frequencies will disrupt their established service and have claimed some form of exclusive right to the frequencies in Band IV. They argue that the proposed change of some of their frequencies may adversely affect nearly half their viewers.
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It is not considered that their claim is valid as the Ordinance clearly provides that all licensees should operate within Band IV. Legal advice is therefore that TVB have not an exclusive right to Band IV, although an amendment to the Ordinance will be necessary (and the amending bill provides for one) to enable Band V to be used. Moreover the Television Authority has checked the position about possible disruption against figures supplied by the Commissioner for Census and Statistics and is satisfied that not more than 10% of all viewers in Hong Kong will be affected. The plan requires all five services to broadcast their programmes from a main transmitter site on Temple Hill, each licensee using his own transmitting equipment but sharing a common aerial mast. 636,000 households in Hong Kong currently have wireless television receivers. About 75%, or 460,000 of these, are situated within the natural basin bordered on the north by the Kowloon foothills and on the south by Victoria Peak and Mount Parker, receiving signals from the main transmitting station at Temple Hill. If the plan is put into effect these households will continue to receive all transmissions without needing to change their aerials. Of the remaining 176, 000 households, only a proportion (mainly in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung) will be affected.
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The alternative to implementing the approved plan would be to leave TVB where they are in Band IV, without reallocating any of their frequencies, and to allocate the available frequencies in Band V to the new licensees. This would deny the majority of viewers alternative television programmes unless they purchased new aerials, and the absence of a
CONFIDENTIAL
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