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SCMP Reporter

Q: DID you meet political opposition from Beijing when you started to talk to TVB in Hong Kong?  A: YES, the Chinese made it very clear we were not welcome at TVB in their view. Any foreign company was not welcome. And that's when we pulled back.

  It was not our first choice. Our first choice was STAR but negotiations had broken down twice.

   We then went to TVB. The Chinese made their feelings clear.

   We pulled out and we went back to STAR and that's something they can't really control, although we have very good relations with the Chinese broadcasting authorities and we expect we will work out an accommodation with them.

  What the Chinese don't like is uncontrolled news broadcasts coming in from outside.

 Q: BUT satellite will do that, won't it?  A: IT could.

 Q: WILL they try to control your service in any way?  A: THEY may but I would hope we can find some accommodation.

 Q: CAN they stop the sale of dishes that receive the satellite broadcasts?  A: I WONDER whether they can. We now make, or our suppliers are making, a million dishes a year for Britain and for Germany.

   It's an important export industry for them. We've got very good relationships with Chinese television.

   We already sell them programmes from Hollywood for terrestrial broadcast and I think there are points we will need to discuss with them and we'll certainly respect their wishes.

 Q: ARE you committed to keeping the remaining 15.1 per cent of the South China Morning Post?  A: NO.

 Q: SO you'll sell it?  A: WE'LL make the decision in the next (this) week.

 Q: MR KUOK (Hock Nien of the Kerry Group) couldn't buy any more (than the 34.9 per cent) without making a full bid. Was there any doubt that he could make the bid?  A: NO, he would have liked to have bought our 50 per cent.

 Q: DID you meet (Malaysian Prime Minister) Dr Mahathir?  A: YES. It went very well. He held his points and I held mine.

   He has since issued a statement which considerably softens his views of STAR with some practical suggestions.

   STAR programmes will now be welcomed in Malaysia provided they first become more sensitive to the Malaysians. That's a big step forward.

  He believes all Western media - whether it be CNN, the Financial Times or the Australian media - have portrayed Southeast Asia in a deliberately unfavourable manner and this is a view he holds very strongly. It's difficult to move him on it. I find all politicians in every country believe the media does that to them.

 Q: WHAT'S going to happen to pay TV in this country (Australia)?  A: EITHER the government's going to change its policy again, start with a new level playing field and hopefully a very deregulated one. Or else it will slowly end up with a lot of people losing a lot of money with the service being very restricted.

   Eight channels of pay television is not much when other countries have 180.

 Q: DO we really need all these channels? Flicking through the channels in the United States, most of it is garbage.

 A: PEOPLE like to know it's there. Look through the programme and say, gosh, there's a movie I haven't seen for 20 years and there's not much on free television, so I'll watch that.

   I find when I'm exercising in the gym I like to turn on CNN and watch the news.

   Other people watch MTV, music channels. No single channel has more than one per cent of the audience.

   Things like CNN get a third of one per cent if you take an average over the day. But you've got to say they enrich the lives of the people who have it.

 Q: DO you plan any more ventures in the PMT consortium with Kerry Packer and Telecom?  A: NO.

 Q: SO it was just the pay TV exercise?  A: YES.

 Q: WHAT was your tender bid for the licence?  A: I DON'T know. It was prudent. Q: HOW do you find Kerry Packer these days? A: I HAVE had little contact. But I've always found him a totally honest person to do business with.

  He's capable of being very tough and capable of being very charming.

 Q: WHAT about Telecom Australia?  A: I DON'T think they'll invest in us or we in them but we'd certainly contemplate the possibility of doing things together in Asia.

 Q: IS there anything concrete in these plans?  A: NO.

 Q: WHAT about the Asian satellite pay TV broadcaster STAR TV? Can they come into that with you?  A: I DON'T think so. We're the ones with all the expertise there.

   We need local expertise, local ways of doing business. But with the management of Sky we know more about satellite television than any company in the world.

   There's nothing as big as that or has been as hard as that. There's no one else doing that. There is a small Scandinavian operation.



Winding road negotiated in delivering News to the Asian market