Digital Broadcasting Corporation faces sanction over 4-day shutdown

The embattled Digital Broadcasting Corporation has breached its licensing terms by halting scheduled broadcasts for more than four days last month, the communications watchdog says in a provisional ruling.

A sanction would be imposed on the radio broadcaster, the Office of the Communications Authority said.

"The service cessation amounted to a contravention of DBC's sound broadcasting licence condition," the authority said last night.

Conditions attached to the licence state that the station should broadcast all its seven channels 24 hours a day and provide not less than 50 hours of non-Cantonese programmes a week.

But DBC, the city's first digital radio station, stopped original programming from 8pm on October 10 to 7am on October 15.

The authority said it was inviting representatives from the station to give views on the provisional decision, after which it would decide on the sanction.