The Communications Authority (CA) of Hong Kong has imposed a financial penalty amounting to HK$50,000 on Asia Television Limited (ATV) for breaching the TV Programme Code and Condition. The CA says it received close to 2,200 public complaints about the programme broadcast on the Home and Asia Channels of ATV on November 11, 2012.

The major areas of complaint were that: the programme content was misleading and inaccurate, such as the remarks that the audience rating between ATV and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) was in the ratio of 4:6; the programme included one-sided views against the issuance of new domestic free television programme service licences (free TV licences) and criticisms against a Legislative Council (LegCo) Member, but did not provide suitable opportunities for responses; ATV misused the spectrum to promote its own interests; and the livecast of the gathering was unnecessary and pre-empted the children’s programmes.

The programme concerned was a live telecast of a gathering against the issuance of new free-TV licences, which was organised by the Asia Club and supported by ATV.

In considering the complaints, the CA noted that while ATV did announce the programme as a personal view programme (PVP) at its start; as a PVP, the programme was also required to ensure that a certain degree of impartiality was preserved.

This is not the first time that ATV has breached the provisions in the TV Programme Code pertaining to PVPs, in particular those on the need to provide a suitable opportunity for response and to allow a broad range of views to be expressed. Another programme, ATV Focus, which aired from September 3 – 7, 2012, was also fined HK$50,000.