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