Hongkongers will definitely get to watch free-to-air live coverage of the London Olympic Games, despite the wrangling among local broadcasters, the city's sports chief pledged yesterday.
Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, said: 'They [the International Olympic Committee] have told me I can convey this message. There will be free-to-air television broadcast of the Games. And [the arrangement] will be made public as soon as within one or two days.'
Fok did not reveal further details about his meeting with IOC representatives, or say what broadcasting arrangements would be put in place.
Rights holder iCable said last night that one major obstacle to showing the Games on free-to-air broadcaster ATV's World channel had been resolved.
iCable said the IOC had overcome potential difficulties and the Games would now feature on ATV, which is available to households in the Pearl River Delta area. It gave no details about how the difficulties had been resolved.
ATV, which confirmed that it had been in talks with the IOC, was unaware of any deal and said that the problem with cross-border rights was not the only obstacle.