MEDIA-HONG KONG: Tuning In to China's Wishes (1)

HONG KONG, Nov 17 (IPS) - Hong Kong's handover to China is still three years away, but television broadcasters based in the British colony are already rushing to please Beijing.

Chinese officials in Hong Kong have recently been very vocal about their concerns regarding new broadcasters here, and have described the number of new Chinese language channels being launched in Hong Kong as "worrying".

Apparently upset over the increasing uncontrolled transmission of information into China, especially Chinese language broadcasts, Beijing has been issuing numerous decrees to combat the onslaught of satellite television. Satellite dishes have been banned, particularly in Guangdong, Hong Kong's next-door neighbour.

China's recent comments appear to be directed at Hong Kong- based China Entertainment Television Broadcast (CETV), which announced trial broadcasts of its first channel on Dec. 1 and an official launch in March. China is expected to account for 90 percent of the potential viewers of the channel.

But CETV's Singaporean-born chairman Robert Chua said a recent ban on cable TV networks in neighbouring Guangdong province on broadcasting STAR TV and other overseas TV programmes was not intended for CETV.

"CETV censors itself," he said, stressing that the channel would be free of sex violence and news reporting. Instead, Chua said his 24-hour Mandarin language service will be heavy on game shows, drama series, documentaries and lifestyle programmes covering food, health, fashion and fitness.

But other broadcasters are taking Chinese concerns seriously. Indeed, the pioneer Asian regional satellite broadcaster, STAR TV, has taken pains to say its Chinese channel was not intended to challenge Beijing in any way.

The station had taken great care to provide material that was "not offensive or politically worrisome to governments," said Doug Gautier, spokesman for STAR TV in Hong Kong.

And Hong Kong's Wharf Cable, which this week began 24 hour broadcasts of the British Broadcasting Corporation's World Service Television, has said it would probably abandon the BBC if China pressured it to do so.

STAR TV dropped the BBC from its northern beam to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in May after a documentary on Mao Zedong aired on one of its channels drew Beijing's ire. The BBC was retained in STAR TV's southern beam to the Indian subcontinent.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service