Public Consultation

Television and Radio Consultative Scheme

There are about 550 members of the public on the Television and Radio Consultative Scheme. They were recruited from the 18 geographical districts with membership profile matching the profile of the census population compiled by the Census and Statistics Department. The operation of the Television and Radio Consultative Scheme underwent a major revamp since the last quarter of 2003. Members recruited were invited to participate in focus group meetings for in-depth discussions on issues related to broadcasting standards.

During the reporting period, 10 focus group meetings were organized on the community's acceptance of 50 undesirable expressions broadcast on the different types of television and sound broadcasting services. For members who subscribed to pay television services, they were invited to attend five focus group meetings to review clippings on different forms of provision of providing advisory announcements and cautionary statements in satellite-live programmes on pay television services. The existing code requires the domestic pay television programme service licensees to broadcast an advisory or cautionary announcement together with a descriptive statement of problem content at the start of any programme containing material which is unsuitable for children's viewing or likely to disturb some audiences. The licensees had expressed difficulty in compliance as many of its programme channels were made for the region and acquired for real time direct re-transmission. The opinions gathered from the focus groups would facilitate the Authority to review the request from the domestic pay television programme service licensees for possible relaxation of the relevant codes of practice.