Lawmaker urges more English-language TV, radio programming, two years after gov't cuts to required broadcast hours
At a legislative meeting on Wednesday, pro-Beijing lawmaker Starry Lee said Hong Kong needed to capitalise on its strengths and position as a international hub for high-calibre talent ahead of the upcoming 15th National Games and other international events.
Lee, who heads the DAB party, urged the 'setting up of well-established English information channels for [the] demonstration of Hong Kong's cultural diversity, openness and inclusiveness…,' including a 24-hour RTHK English-language channel and the use of social media platforms.
It comes two years after the required broadcast hours for English programming on English-language stations was reduced from 80 per cent to 55 per cent.
Public consultation
According to a written response by Acting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bernard Chan, there are a total of five English-language TV channels and three radio channels in Hong Kong.
'These help exhibit Hong Kong's diversity and global vision, proactively telling good stories of the country and Hong Kong and enabling non-Chinese speaking persons in Hong Kong to have a better understanding of various information about Hong Kong and Mainland China,' Chan's response said.
As for international talent, The Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) provides them comprehensive support services aiding their integration into local society, he added: '[T]he HKTE's promotional and publicity materials, including its online platform, TV Announcements in the Public Interest, social media posts, etc, are already fully available in English, and its themed seminars on living in Hong Kong also offer online livestreaming and simultaneous interpretation services.'
According to Chan, the Information Services Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will continue producing more English-Language social media content, including for promoting the upcoming National Games.
In the third quarter of this year, the Office of the Communications Authority will launch a public consultation on the free-to-TV licence renewals.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Standard
16 minutes ago
- The Standard
China urges caution - and speed - on assisted-driving technology
A person tries the electric sedan SU7 displayed at a Xiaomi store in Beijing, China May 29, 2025. (REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo)
RTHK
32 minutes ago
- RTHK
Plunge in small parcels takes toll on air shipments
Plunge in small parcels takes toll on air shipments As Asia-to-US demand fell in May, airlines pulled freighter aircraft off trans-Pacific routes and placed them elsewhere. File photo: RTHK The volume of air cargo shipments from Asia has declined by double digits since the United States cancelled a tax-free exemption for low-value packages from China early in May, trade groups and analysts said. Air cargo demand from Asia to North America declined 10.7 percent in May versus the same month a year earlier, data from the International Air Transport Association showed, illustrating "the dampening effect of shifting US trade policies," association director general Willie Walsh said in a report. Shipments valued under US$800 – often sent by air to US customers of low-cost e-commerce platforms such as Shein and PDD's Temu – fall under the so-called de minimis, or too-small-to-matter, tax exemption. Since May 2, however, such shipments sent from mainland China and Hong Kong have been taxed at a rate initially as high as 145 percent before settling to as low as 30 percent after a mid-May trade detente between the United States and China. The pair continue to negotiate on trade, with the United States relaxing export restrictions on software, ethane and aerospace to China this week, ahead of July 9 when Washington plans to reimpose a range of steep tariffs targeting multiple countries. The volume of low-value e-commerce shipments from China to the United States in May saw a particularly steep decline, industry experts said. Such shipments fell 43 percent in May from the previous month, showed estimates from air cargo consultancy Aevean, but rose to other main export markets including Europe and South-East Asia. It is not clear whether such dramatic declines will continue, said Aevean managing director Marco Bloemen, given businesses had anticipated the de minimis halt and because the tariff rate was lowered mid-month. "Will those e-commerce players bounce back to the United States now they're paying 30 percent duties instead of zero duties?" Bloemen said. Companies turning to other markets due to US trade policy uncertainty is also likely weighing on shipment volume, he said. "That's a trend that we're expecting to continue – there's more Europe-destined e-commerce expected in the month of June, also to markets like Latin America." Air cargo consultancy Rotate said e-commerce platforms were focusing on other markets to replace lost US demand, with significant export growth to the European Union and Asia-Pacific region. Low-value e-commerce out of Asia has been taking an increasing proportion of global air freight and boosting airlines' cargo businesses. Last year such shipments – at 1.2 million tonnes – made up 55 percent of goods shipped from China to the United States by air compared to just 5 percent in 2018, Aevean data showed. As Asia-to-US demand fell in May, airlines pulled freighter aircraft off trans-Pacific routes and placed them elsewhere, industry experts said. Some of that demand has now returned as companies take advantage of tariff pauses between the United States and a number of countries, but flight frequencies are reduced, they said. (Reuters)
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Singapore's crypto crackdown on unlicensed exchanges could drive liquidity to Hong Kong
Hong Kong could benefit from Singapore's recent move to oust unlicensed cryptocurrency companies, according to analysts, potentially leading to a significant injection of liquidity. Advertisement On May 30, the Monetary Authority of Singapore instructed cryptocurrency firms incorporated in the city and offering services abroad to acquire a licence or leave the country. Singapore's central bank subsequently set a June 30 deadline for crypto service providers in the city state to stop offering digital token services to overseas markets. This combined with Hong Kong's recently passed stablecoin ordinance, set to take effect on August 1, and Beijing's plan to liquidate confiscated cryptocurrencies in the city could all benefit the jurisdiction's efforts to build a crypto hub, according to Joshua Chu, a lawyer and co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association. 'These moves are intimately connected, forming a strategic blueprint that could redefine Hong Kong's role in the global virtual asset ecosystem,' Chu said. 'This is likely to attract quality projects looking for a compliant, liquid, and globally connected base.' This illustration photograph taken on June 30, 2025 shows bitcoin representation coins against the backdrop of the Singapore national flag. Photo: AFP He added that Singapore's crackdown was part of a broader trend to regulate the industry and weed out bad actors. Thailand last month moved to ban five crypto exchanges, including major operators OKX and Bybit, while Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority recently updated its rules to strengthen investor protections. Advertisement 'In the current climate, regulatory actions across Asia are best understood as a region-wide game of 'FATF musical chairs', and nobody wants to be left standing when the music stops,' Chu said, using the abbreviation for financial action task force.
