Hong Kong lawmakers call for TV stations to show more English-language content

Hong Kong’s broadcast watchdog has been asked to require TV stations to produce more local programmes on their English channels to “tell good Hong Kong stories” to expats and visitors.

Stations are permitted to have up to 45 per cent of their English-channel content be in other languages, a threshold some lawmakers said on Monday was too high and at odds with Hong Kong’s role as an international city.

Some legislators also urged the government to sponsor TV stations to produce dramas promoting national security and education, while others called for loosening restrictions on TV commercials or product placements to help broadcasters survive in the new media era.

The views were raised at a meeting of the Legislative Council’s panel on information technology and broadcasting, at which officials briefed lawmakers on the coming renewal of the three domestic free-to-air TV service licences.

Non-affiliated lawmaker Chan Siu-hung said: “Hong Kong is an international city, but there are not enough English programmes. Most of them are about financial markets or current affairs. We should allow expats here more choices.”

Sharing a similar view, Eunice Yung Hoi-yan of the New People’s Party said: “Most of the English programmes are bought from overseas. Travellers switching to a local English TV channel could end up watching programmes they have already watched in their home places.”