This press release summarises the Communications Authority (“CA”)’s decisions following its 34th meeting in August 2014:
Breach of direction and regulatory requirements by NXTV Asia, Limited (NXTV)
The CA decided that NXTV was in breach of:
(a) section 23(2)(c) of the Broadcasting Ordinance (“BO”) for its failure to comply in full with the direction issued by the CA dated 1 April 2014 under section 24(1) of the BO (“the Direction”), requiring NXTV to, among others, submit by 1 May 2014 an auditor’s certificate or a statutory declaration (“AC or SD”) confirming the number of hotels to which its service was provided for the licence year 2013/2014, as well as an annual statutory declaration on its compliance with the fit and proper person requirement and an annual return showing the names and places of residence of the directors and principal officers of NXTV (“Annual Returns”) for the year of 2013;
(b) Condition 9.2 of its type B other licensable television programme service licence (“the Licence”) for its failure to submit the AC or SD for the licence year 2014/2015; and
(c) sections 21(2) and 39(1) of the BO for its failure to submit the Annual Returns for the year of 2014.
In April 2014, the CA imposed a financial penalty of $50,000 on NXTV for, among others, breaches of the submission requirements mentioned in (a) for the licence year 2013/2014, and decided to issue the Direction to NXTV requiring it to comply with the said requirements. Despite the financial penalty and repeated reminders, NXTV still has not submitted the AC or SD and Annual Returns referred to in (a) to (c) above as required under the Direction, the BO or the Licence. The CA considered that NXTV’s failure to comply in full with the Direction and with the submission requirements in two consecutive years were serious breaches and should be rectified without further delay.
In view of the severity, nature and duration of the contraventions, the CA decided that a financial penalty of HK$100,000 should be imposed on NXTV for the breaches. The CA further decided to issue a new direction under section 24(1) of the BO requiring NXTV to submit the AC or SD and the Annual Returns referred to in (a) to (c) above within one month of the issue of the new direction, and any failure to do so may lead to the imposition of heavier sanction by the CA.
Broadcast Complaints
The CA also considered two complaint cases in respect of the licensee’s non-compliance with the codes of practice on television programme and advertising standards –
(a) a complaint against the television programme “Dolce Vita” (明珠生活) broadcast on the HD Jade Channel of Television Broadcasts Limited (“TVB”) on 31 July 2013. The CA decided that TVB should be advised to observe more closely the relevant provision in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Advertising Standards;
(b) a complaint against the television programme “Big Boys Club” (兄弟幫) broadcast on the J2 Channel of TVB on 5 April 2014. The CA decided that TVB should be advised to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards.
Details of the above cases are at Appendix.
Communications Authority
Secretariat
2 September 2014