ENG-1966 — Page 276

206

PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA

dialects. The third Chinese programme broadcasts from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and provides a comprehensive school programme in Cantonese. The English service broadcasts an all-music programme, with news bulletins in the morning and in the middle of the day. The service operates from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Just under a quarter of Rediffusion sound programmes are commercially spon- sored.

Hong Kong was the first British colony to operate a television service and the Rediffusion network now has two channels. By the end of 1966 there were 67,000 subscribers. The television services. carry advertising, and a number of shows on both channels are commercially sponsored. The two channels provide some 75 hours of viewing each week. While both channels carry popular filmed shows from Britain and America, the Chinese programme in particular includes many live shows from fully equipped studios at Rediffusion House. In television, as in radio, outside broadcasts are playing their part in creating among viewers a greater under- standing of current events in the Colony and almost every day Rediffusion's cameras are out covering local news. The rental fee for a 23-inch television set is $50 a month and for a 19-inch set $45 a month inclusive of the receiver, programmes, licence and maintenance. These fees are reduced annually. Subscribers with their own receivers pay $25 a month to cover the programme fee, licence and maintenance. The network now reaches out from the urban areas to Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Clear Water Bay and Sha Tin in the New Territories, and further developments are under way.

WIRELESS TELEVISION

Under the Television Ordinance of 1964, the Director of Informa- tion Services serves in an ex officio capacity as Television Authority, responsible for securing proper standards of broadcast television, particularly regarding the contents of programmes and technical efficiency of broadcasts. In this respect he will be assisted by an Advisory Board of five people. The ordinance requires that the broadcast programmes shall include such programmes and an- nouncements supplied by the government as may be required by the Television Authority.