TNAG-2276-FCO40-3275-Hong-Kong-and-the-media-1991 — Page 97

Mr Davies

Miss Spencer

MEETING WITH HUTCHVISION

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from: J Ranson

date: 11 June 1991

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CC: HKD

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1. Mr Li and Lord Derwent of Hutchisons, Hong Kong called on Miss Spencer on 3 June 1991 to discuss their plans for satellite TV.

2.

They started by filling in the background to their bid, including the competition for satellite coverage and the collapse of the recent Cable TV bid. The outcome of previous talks with the Hong Kong Government is that a

'semi-open sky' policy has been adopted, but that the two main restrictions are to be that broadcasts are not to be in Cantonese, and that any service must not be funded on a subscription basis.

3. In December Hutchvision were formally awarded a licence and have started a 24 hour preview channel. Eventually they hope to have five channels up and running, including a 24 hour news channel, sport, music and light enterainment. The aim is to devote one channel to the BBC World Service TV, with whom Hutchvision are now in negotiation.

4.

Mr Li was at pains to point out that this is a new departure for Hutchisons, who traditionally have their commercial base in property, ports, trading etc. They are currently responsible for about 15% of the Hong Kong stock market. It is very much in their interests to have a durable stable political and economic structure in Hong Kong, and they see acces to non-biased, accurate news information as making an important contribution to this. He appealed to the FCO on the basis of common objectives in this area.

5. They have signed a preliminary agreement with the BBC to provide 5 minutes of news every hour, and four news segments of in-depth reporting and discussion programmes. They have already set up a back-up station in Thailand and aim eventually to reach, with a mix of satellite dishes and cable systems, over 80% of Hong Kong's population. The footprints of the satellite they are using covers 55% of the world's population, from Mongolia to Sumatra, and Japan to Turkey, so the potential is enormous. Already 22 million people in Indonesia, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are tuned into satellite TV.

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