April 24, 2015 — A court has ruled that it was unlawful for the Chief Executive C.Y. Leung and his cabinet to deny a free-to-air licence to Hong Kong Television Network. The court has ordered the Executive Council to reconsider its October 2013 decision which sparked street protests by HKTV supporters and prompted the telecoms veteran to seek a judicial review. In a written judgment, Mr Justice Thomas Au ruled that when the government rejected HKTV’s application, it failed to follow a 1998 pro-competition policy stipulating there should be no limit to the number of free-television licences.
For more on the story see:
“High Court judge rules HKTV licence refusal by government is unlawful,” South China Morning Post, April 25, 2015
“Exco acted ‘unlawfully’ in refusing HKTV a licence,” RTHK, April 24, 2015
Full court decision: Hong Kong Television Network v Chief Executive in Council [2015] HKCFI 634
