HKTV will flout rules if even one person views content via antenna, watchdog tells Ricky Wong
Watchdog changes tack after earlier warning Ricky Wong he will break the law if more than 5,000 households can watch his shows via antenna
The telecommunications watchdog and Ricky Wong Wai-kay of the Hong Kong Television Network sat down together yesterday for the first time since a mobile television row broke out - and ended up farther apart.
The three-hour session marked the first proper face-to-face negotiations between Wong and Ofca chairman Ambrose Ho Pui-him and director general of communications Eliza Lee Man-ching since January. Wong wanted to launch a mobile service after being denied a free-to-air television licence.
But in the end the meeting threw up more questions than solutions.
The HKTV chairman was told he would breach mobile television licensing rules if just one person watched the service at home using a public antenna.
Wong would need to obtain a broadcasting licence on top of a mobile licence, Ofca said.
Previously, the authority had objected to his proposal to use the digital terrestrial multimedia broadcast (DTMB) transmission standard - which is adopted by established stations TVB and ATV - as this would make HKTV a de facto free-television station.