ENG-1968 — Page 285

PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA

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to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and provides comprehensive school pro- grammes in Cantonese. The English service operates from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Just under a quarter of Rediffusion sound programmes are commercially sponsored.

TELEVISION

Hong Kong was the first British Colony to operate a television service and the network of Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Ltd (RTV), which was established in 1957, now has two channels. By the spring of 1968 there were 100,000 subscribers to this television service. The television services carry advertising, and a number of shows on both channels are commercially sponsored. The two channels provide some 105 viewing hours 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.

Television House, the company's new multi-studio centre at Lung Cheung Road, Kowloon, is now completed and the official opening took place in November. It is equipped with 19 studios, nine of which are television studios, eight are audio studios and two are dubbing studios. In television, as in radio, outside broad- casts are playing their part in creating among viewers a greater understanding of current events in the Colony and almost every day Rediffusion's cameras are out covering local news and obtaining material for current affairs programmes. The network now reaches out from the urban areas to Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Clear Water Bay, Sha Tin and Castle Peak in the New Territories, and further developments are under way.

Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd (HK-TVB) began regular broadcasts on two networks on November 19, 1967. Independent market research established that there were almost 70,000 wireless receivers in use by June 1968, and the estimate for the end of the year was 120,000 receivers.

HK-TVB features colour, FM sound, live productions and out- door broadcast programmes. It is also being received by some thousands of sets in the Portuguese Province of Macau.

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