Update: Court of Appeal quashes ruling that HKTV’s licence application be reconsidered

Apr 7, 2016

by Doreen Weisenhaus with contributions by Rick Glofcheski and Yan Mei Ning (Expanded Second Edition, Hong Kong University Press 2014)


April 6, 2016 (South China Morning Post) — Media tycoon Ricky Wong Wai-kay’s long-running battle to ­secure a share of the free-to-air television market suffered ­another setback as the Court of Appeal quashed a lower court’s decision to have his ­licence application reconsidered.
The Court of Appeal overturned a Court of First Instance ruling that the Executive Council had failed to follow the pro-competition 1998 reform ­– banning preset limits on the number of licensees – when it rejected the application by Wong’s Hong Kong Television Network. In the latest ruling, chief High Court judge Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung said the Broadcasting Ordinance “implicitly requires the Chief Executive in Council to take into account all relevant public interest considerations when exercising his discretion to grant or refuse an application for a domestic free-television licence”.
The judge said market sustainability was a highly relevant ­consideration.

Full SCMP article here