Not much comes free these days, but some pay-TV channels do - thanks to a Broadcasting Ordinance so outdated it doesn't even define the internet, and thanks to an oversight system where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
The freebies emerge when subscribers terminate contracts for PCCW's Now TV and Netvigator broadband services. While PCCW cuts the service, the set-top box is not taken away and the subscribers are told they can still watch certain channels for free - Now Hong Kong and Now News, which are priced at HK$15 each when bundled into a 12-month pay-TV contract.
But here's the rub: Under the Broadcasting Ordinance and terms of its pay-TV licence, Now TV is not allowed to provide free-to-air television. Operators who do so must have a different licence.
People familiar with the sector suspect PCCW may be allowing former paying subscribers to watch for free to maintain subscriber numbers, artificially maintaining market share, ratings and advertising rates at a time when it has lost its top drawcard, the English Premier League.
'I wouldn't be surprised if [the former subscribers viewing for free] are being counted as subscribers or part of the TV ratings,' Cheuk Pak-tong, head of Baptist University's Academy of Film, said. 'These figures are never transparent and always hard to verify. PCCW might also be paving the way for its future free-TV operation,' Cheuk said, as PCCW is one of three groups bidding for a new free-to-air TV licence.
The Broadcasting Authority, which regulates both free and pay-TV licensees, said free and pay services were governed by separate licences under the Broadcasting Ordinance, which was enacted a decade ago and has been overtaken by rapid changes in technology.