Early Hong Kong television, 1950s-1970s : commercialisation, public service and Britishness

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Media History

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Volume

17

Issue

3

First Page

305

Last Page

322

Keywords

Britishness, Hong Kong, media policy, media systems, television history

Abstract

This article argues that the development of television in Hong Kong should be viewed as a part of British media history. Yet within this context, it is striking that the Hong Kong Government did not follow the public ownership model of the BBC (even though it had followed a similar model with radio broadcasting), nor did the Government make significant efforts to use television as a vehicle for promoting British culture within Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong television was commercial from the beginning, with Government regulation and Government-produced content emerging only in response to political crisis in the late 1960sand even then, only to a very limited extent. I argue that this early television history reflects both the increasing autonomy of the Hong Kong Government from London in the post-war period, and the development of a distinct Hong Kong Britishness that favoured minimal regulation of oligopolistic commercial interests.

DOI

10.1080/13688804.2011.591755

Print ISSN

13688804

E-ISSN

14699729

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2011 Taylor & Francis

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Hampton, M. (2011). Early Hong Kong television, 1950s-1970s: Commercialisation, public service and Britishness. Media History, 17(3), 305-322. doi: 10.1080/13688804.2011.591755

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