The Hong Kong government on January 28 published in the Gazette a broadcasting bill to provide a new technology-neutral statutory framework for the licensing and regulation of television program services.

Entitled the Broadcasting Bill, it will replace Hong Kong's Television Ordinance to cover all types of television program services, including the terrestrial and satellite television services now separately licensed under the Television Ordinance and the Telecommunication Ordinance respectively.

"It marks an important milestone in advancing the government's policy objectives of widening program choice, encouraging investment and ensuring fair and effective competition in the provision of broadcasting services," a spokesman for the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau said.

Under the Bill, "television program services" are classified into four categories, namely Domestic Free service, Domestic Pay service, Non-domestic service and Other Licensable service.

To safeguard fair competition in an open and competitive market, the Bill contains a general provision prohibiting a licensee from engaging in anti-competitive conduct, and a specific provision prohibiting a licensee in a dominant position in a television program service market from abusing its position.

Among other things, the Bill will do away with certain existing regulatory restrictions, which are no longer relevant or necessary in a liberalized market. The current restrictions on investments by licensees will also be relaxed.

As the competition provisions may affect existing contracts that a licensee has already entered into, the Bill provides a transitional arrangement whereby agreements lawfully entered into before the gazettal date of the Bill will be exempted from the application of the general competition provision for two years from that date.

The Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority will be empowered to enforce the competition provisions, and issue detailed draft guidelines for consultation with the industry, with a view to finalizing them by the time the Bill is passed.