Galaxy TV faces legal challenge by PCCW

Fledgling pay-television operator Galaxy has come under indirect attack from PCCW, which is seeking a judicial review into the non-disclosure by the Broadcasting Authority (BA) of information about Galaxy's conversion from a satellite to a broadband service.

PCCW, which operates the Now broadband pay-television service, claims the authority got it wrong when it refused on the grounds of insufficient public interest to hand over documentation regarding Galaxy's successful application to distribute programming via Hutchison Global Communication's (HGC) broadband network.

The move opened up a potential market of up to one million households, compared with the 20,000 or so the operator had signed up for its satellite service. PCCW argued that such a massive increase in its potential market power warranted a public consultation.

'The BA has erred in law in determining that no public interest arises in the present case,' PCCW's writ, filed in the High Court yesterday, said. 'There are clear public interest factors in favour of the information relating to Galaxy's application being disclosed.'

In a letter dated April 29, the authority rejected the public interest argument, saying it considered Galaxy's application concerned a change of transmission means and not a variation of the licence and there was no need to consult the other licence holders or the public.

PCCW contended that this approach was wrong, because the sheer scale of changes the switch to a fixed-line operation would impose on Galaxy's business would warrant the authority treating it as a new licence.