ENG-1967 — Page 278

PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA

TELEVISION

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There are two television broadcasting organizations in the Colony, Television Broadcasts Limited, which provides wireless television, and Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited, which provides a wired service. There are an estimated 110,000 television receivers in the Colony.

In October the government approved the appointment of a Tele- vision Advisory Board to assist the Television Authority in his task of administering the ordinance under which wireless television operations are carried out.

Wireless television began regular programming on November 19. It featured colour, FM sound, many studio productions and present- ed live remote relays from Macau. Television Broadcasts Limited; the licensee, is registered and controlled in Hong Kong. It employs a UHF 625-line PAL system to broadcast over two networks-one, the Jade, basically uses Cantonese and the other, the Pearl, uses English. Its main transmitters are on the peak of Temple Hill in the New Territories. These transmitters, more than 1,600 feet above sea level, are ideally sited for television transmission. They stand atop a natural amphitheatre formed by the northern shore of Hong Kong Island and the entire urban part of Kowloon peninsula.

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HK-TVB operates from a modern studio complex on a 51,000 square foot site near the mouth of Lion Rock Tunnel. The Jade network has many local live programmes. The Pearl network is mainly a colour channel which, at the outset, used mainly filmed material.

The station's transmitter housing and aerial masts, built to with- stand typhoons of up to 200 miles an hour, were the first of their kind to be manufactured outside Europe and the United States. Before the station went on the air, HK-TVB mounted a month-long test display at the Ocean Terminal in September. Dealers exhibited some 100 sets of 35 different brands and more than 750,000 people, attended the demonstration. The station also mounted aerials in an experiment to bring television to boat dwellers and to a school in Sha Tin-a first step towards educational television in Hong Kong.