Pay-TV subscribers need a champion of their consumer rights
Philip Yeung laments the fact operators are allowed to restrict viewing choices with impunity
Everywhere else, the consumer is king. Here, he is more like a sucker with little to fall back on except the principle of "buyer beware", thanks to the "little government, big market" philosophy much favoured by the Donald Tsang Yam-kuen administration.
The mainland may have toxic products but at least it provides fair pay-TV services. Here, the market is dominated by i-Cable and Now TV, with 1.09 million and 1.16 million subscribers respectively. They are locked in a battle for the local couch potato.
Their weapon of choice is the broadcast rights of the English Premier League games. These rights swing back and forth between them. Now TV won the latest bidding war, reportedly paying nearly HK$1.5 billion for three seasons starting last year. And guess who ultimately pays? As a Chinese proverb says, "The wool comes only from the lamb's back". Like lambs, we are ripe to be fleeced.
Pay TV comes under the Office of the Communications Authority, which defines its role and function as enforcing the codes of practice in three areas: programming standards; advertising standards; and technical standards. These standards are designed to regulate free-to-air TV.
With pay TV, the authority takes a "market-driven" approach. I was struck dumb when it says that pay TV doesn't enjoy the same market penetration and influence as free-to-air TV, and therefore deserves greater latitude, as is the case in other developed markets. The authority is asleep, while the market has marched on. Today, pay TV has a combined subscribership of more than two million in a city of seven million, with terrestrial television in decline. How can it justify zero oversight on such a huge market penetration?
Besides, pay-TV stations are not shops. They are public television, with public trust at its core, entailing a contract between providers and subscribers. Is the authority saying that this is only a matter for the Consumer Council? If so, it should opt out totally. Pay TV is basically a middle-man operation, with acquired programmes as the staple. Its self-produced or co-produced shows are meagre offerings. As such, pay-TV operators should let subscribers choose their own viewing experience.