The South China Morning Post has reported that the Communications Authority (CA) said their advice was ignored, and that the government did not respond to them before making the decision not to award Ricky Wong’s HKTV, a new player, a free TV licence. 

The news report adds that in its submission to the government, the CA said that all three applicants – HKTV, Fantastic TV and HKTVE, met the statutory requirements and the four criteria listed by the government – financial capability, programming investment, programming strategy and capability, and technical soundness.

If the CA’s report had arrived a day earlier, a previously failed motion to invoke the Legislative Council’s special powers to investigate the situation might have passed, added the news report. 

In response to the accusation, the government reiterated that it was not obliged to seek the regulator’s consent before making a decision, according to the report.

The report adds that a Civic Party lawmaker said that the CA’s submission contributes to the legal argument that the government may have made procedural mistakes.