Views On Free Broadcasting Sought

The Communications Authority today invited the public to give their views on the services provided by the three domestic free television programme service licensees and the two sound broadcasting licensees.

The free TV licensees are Fantastic Television (Fantastic TV), HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE) and Television Broadcasts (TVB) while the sound broadcasting licensees are Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting (CRHK) and Metro Broadcast (Metro).

Their licences are valid for 12 years. HKTVE, TVB and Fantastic TV’s validity period will end between March 2027 and May 2028, while that of CRHK and Metro will end in August 2028.

Pursuant to the relevant statutory requirements and licence conditions, these licences shall be subject to review by the Chief Executive-in-Council in the sixth year of the 12-year validity period of the licence between 2021 and 2022.

Given the proximity of the review periods of these licences and to more efficiently manage these mid-term reviews, the authority decided to conduct a consolidated exercise for all the free TV and sound broadcasting licences.

The authority will evaluate the licensees' performance against the various statutory requirements and licence conditions as well as formulate recommendations for consideration and approval by the Chief Executive-in-Council.

The authority will take into account public views received in making recommendations, it said.

The consultation will end on November 9. 

The public may give their views by email to [email protected], fax to 2507 2219 or mail to the Office of the Communications Authority - Attn: Licence Administration Section 22, 20/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai.

The authority will conduct an online public consultation session on September 25. It has also commissioned an independent survey company Nielsen to conduct an opinion survey to collect public views.

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