This press release summarises the Communications Authority ("CA")'s decisions following its 38th meeting in January 2015:
Contravention of Disqualified Person Restriction by Television Broadcasts Limited ("TVB")
The CA decided to impose a financial penalty of $80,000 on TVB for contravening section 3(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562) ("BO") and Condition 12 of its domestic free television programme service ("free TV") licence, by allowing three former or current directors of TVB, as disqualified persons ("DPs") by virtue of their association with the holder of an other licensable television programme service licensee, viz. Swire Properties Hotel Management Limited1 ("SPHM"), to exercise control of TVB without the requisite approval of the Chief Executive in Council ("CE in C") since October 2009 for periods ranging from two and a half years to five years.
Section 3(2) of Schedule 1 to the BO provides that a person shall not exercise control of a relevant licensee if he is a DP unless the CE in C approves otherwise. DPs are defined under the BO to include, among others, an other licensable television programme service licensee. Condition 12 of the free TV licence of TVB provides that the licensee shall ensure that the officers, employees and associates of the licensee, and any other person acting for or on behalf of the licensee, shall not act or permit any contravention of, inter alia, any provision of the BO.
The DP restriction is an important safeguard in the BO against the risks of media concentration and editorial uniformity. Section 39(2) of the BO requires a free TV licensee to submit annually a statutory declaration showing whether or not any DP exercised any control in the licensee during the previous year. The burden of compliance is therefore placed on the licensees. The CA took a serious view over the contravention of TVB as this was already the third breach of TVB of the same provision within a period of seven years2 and it showed inter-alia the underlying lack of effective monitoring to ensure its compliance with the DP restriction.
In imposing the sanction, the CA had taken into account the fact that the effect of the breach on editorial uniformity or media concentration in this case appeared to be limited as SPHM had a small audience in Hong Kong, and that the breach was uncovered by the DP concerned and TVB had taken the initiative to report the lapse to the CA. Aside from imposing financial penalty, the CA has also required TVB to enhance compliance with the statutory provision on DP restriction to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in the future. In this regard, the CA has directed TVB to submit a proposal to tighten its internal monitoring system to the CA within a month.
Broadcast Complaints
The CA also considered three complaint cases in respect of the licensees' non-compliance with the codes of practice on television and radio programme and advertising standards -
(a) a complaint against the radio programme "The Summit" (光明頂) broadcast on the CR 1 Channel of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited ("CRHK") on 8 July 2014. The CA decided that CRHK should be warned to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Radio Code of Practice on Programme Standards;
(b) a complaint against the television programme "Hot Topic" broadcast on the Home Channel of Asia Television Limited ("ATV") on 7 June 2014. The CA decided that ATV should be advised to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards; and
(c) a complaint against the television advertisement for "Country Garden - Ten Miles Coast" (碧桂園‧十里銀灘) broadcast on the Jade Channel of TVB on 6 August 2014. The CA decided that TVB should be advised to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Advertising Standards.
Details of the above cases are at Appendix.
Communications Authority
Secretariat
20 January 2015
Notes:
| (1) | The television service of SPHM is of very confined scale serving only a few hundred hotel rooms under its management and targeting merely its hotel guests. |
| (2) | In 2007, a financial penalty of $50,000 was imposed on TVB for contravention of the DP restriction by allowing its assistant managing director to exercise control of TVB as a DP without the requisite approval of the CE in C since November 2004 for around two years. In 2008, a financial penalty of $80,000 was imposed on TVB for contravention of the DP restriction by allowing six directors to exercise control of the company as DPs without the requisite approval of the CE in C since July 2001 for periods ranging from one and a half years to six years. |