CONFIDENTIAL
CHR Bell Esq
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Deputy Managing Director
BBC World Service
Bush House
Strand
LONDON
Mr
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reflects mumblings that Info. Dept. have picked
Dear Chris,
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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29 September 1988
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Thank you for your letter of 21 September about the BBC proposal to provide a 24 hour medium wave service for Hong Kong. Thank you also for sending us a copy of Peter Tsao's letter to Andrew Joynes of 19 September.
It may be helpful if I set out some background to Tsao's letter. The Hong Kong Government looked carefully at the options available in the light of the political dimension; they agreed that 24 hour broadcasting of the World Service on medium wave should proceed; but they felt that this should be on a low key and experimental basis by extending RTHK Radio 5's present transmissions from 10 to 24 hours a day. The Embassy in Peking supported this decision.
The Hong Kong Government are content for the mix of World Service broadcasts between English and vernacular services to be worked out between RTHK and the BBC. This expansion of Radio 5's World Service rebroadcasts will be made possible by moving its present cultural and minority interest programmes in Chinese to a new channel
(Radio 6), which will be exclusively for such material and enable RTHK to increase the quantity and variety of this type of programming.
In keeping with the decision to proceed on an experimental basis only and to adopt a low key presentation, RTHK intend either make use of its existing transmission equipment at Golden Hill or a newer medium wave transmitter likely to become available for hire towards the end of 1989 about the time the Hong Kong Government wish to implement the new arrangements. We understand that no capital expenditure or other financial input would be required from the BBC to introduce the 24 hour service.
Now that the Hong Kong authorities have informed you directly and in more detail about their conclusions, you will no doubt wish to follow up with them. We would be
../grateful
в
CONFIDENTIAL
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