Secretive U-turn by government may help Ricky Wong's cause

A clandestine change in a government policy on issuing free-television licences is likely to be a central argument in investor Ricky Wong Wai-kay's imminent court challenge of the decision to deny him entry to the market, two legal scholars say.

A shocked Wong had complained he was unaware the government was going to cap the number of new licences at two, after it said in 1998 that there would be no ceiling.

Law academics believe his case is "reasonably arguable". If Wong wins the judicial challenge, the court will probably send the case back to the Executive Council for reconsideration, they say.

Eric Cheung Tat-ming, principal law lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, also noted suggestions in the media that the government's aim in approving only two new players might be to ensure the survival of the beleaguered ATV. If that was the case, it would have erred in taking into account an irrelevant consideration, Cheung said.

"It cannot be right to limit the number of new licences in order to protect existing players," he said. "That is contrary to the original policy objective to introduce competition and against the rule of survival of the fittest.

"The case on the whole appears to be reasonably arguable."