The Chief Executive in Council yesterday approved the cross-ownership of Asia Television (ATV) by nine controllers of Hong Kong Phoenix Weekly Magazine and Phoenix Satellite Television Company - more than six years after the acquisition took place.
But the approval was backdated only to June 2, 2005 and the government warned that the broadcaster could face regulatory sanction for the cross-ownership in the five-year period before that.
The nine, including ATV boss Chan Wing-kee and Phoenix TV boss Liu Changle , are considered 'disqualified persons' under the Broadcasting Ordinance, which prohibits the owners of one broadcasting entity taking control of another.
ATV's contravention of the ordinance 'for a prolonged period reflects the lack of due diligence of its management and no retrospective approval should be granted for the said period', the government said, referring to the period between July 7, 2000 to June 1, 2005.
On Friday, ATV sold 22 per cent of its shares to the mainland's Citic Guoan Group. About 97 million of the 195 million shares sold to Citic were owned by Mr Chan.
