Communications_Authority
The Communications Authority is a statutory body responsible for licensing and regulating the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in Hong Kong. It was formed in 2012 through a merger of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority, Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, and the Telecommunications Authority. The organisation is authorized to investigate complaints made regarding programmes, issue warnings and fines, or even suspend the license of the radio or television station.
The authority enforces the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562), the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106), the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (Cap. 593), Communications Authority Ordinance, and the Broadcasting (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 391).
The regulatory agency is ostensibly independent of the government,[1] but its executive functions are supported by the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA), a government department with a self-funding trust structure.[2][3] In 2020, the Communications Authority issued a statement against RTHK concerning a comedy show for purportedly "denigrating and insulting" the Hong Kong Police Force.[4]
In 2023, the agency recommended to the Chief Executive that free-to-air broadcasters transmit 30 minutes of patriotic and national security programming every week; the Chief Executive, John Lee, accepted the idea and made it mandatory.[5]
In July 2023, the agency proposed that national security media be exempt from a requirement that programs be impartial with "even-handedness," as well as certain media from mainland China.[6]