Must the court step in? asks judge over TVB's judicial review plea
Judge queries why the broadcaster should be allowed a legal challenge to more free-TV licences when a decision is still up in the air
A judge asked yesterday why he should accede to TVB's request to intervene in ongoing government deliberations on the issuance of new licences for free-television stations.
Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung, sitting in the Court of First Instance, was hearing TVB's arguments in seeking leave to apply for a judicial review over the potential licensing of new entrants to the market.
In court filings in January, TVB said the Communications Authority made an "unlawful" recommendation in July when it supported licence applications from three companies.
The television station said reports commissioned before and after the recommendation were replete with errors. It asked the court to stop the Chief Executive in Council, made up of the chief executive and Executive Council, from granting licences to City Telecom-owned Hong Kong Television Network, i-Cable Communications subsidiary Fantastic Television, and PCCW unit HK Television Entertainment Company.
Au asked Gerard McCoy SC, representing TVB, why he should step in if the station still had a chance to submit views to the Chief Executive in Council before it arrived at a decision.
"Why should the court intervene when you can make all your representations to the Chief Executive in Council?" he said. McCoy said TVB had lost a chance to secure a recommendation with better terms. "We are no longer on an even playing field."
Why should the court intervene when you can make all your representations to the Chief Executive in Council?
