****************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting:
The Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting hosted a reception today (June 19) for the overseas delegates attending the International Conference on Public Service Broadcasting.
Speaking at the reception, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, thanked the overseas experts from Australia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the USA for sharing their wealth of experience in public service broadcasting.
"The valuable input of overseas experts will no doubt form an important part of the committee's deliberations. I undertake to give the committee all the support it needs to complete the review," he said.
The International Conference on Public Service Broadcasting will be held on Wednesday (June 21) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. At the conference, the overseas experts will share their views on critical matters such as the status, function, funding, governance, accountability and programming of public broadcasters. Before the conference, the overseas PSB experts also attend panel discussion sessions with local broadcasters, academics and media practitioners for professional exchange.
The overseas speakers will include senior executives from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) from Australia; the Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations (ARD) from Germany; Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) from Japan; the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Channel Four Television from the UK; and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and WGBH-TV from USA.
The half-day conference will be open to members of the public free of charge. Registration can be made online at the committee's website at www.psb.org.hk; by fax (3115 1334) or by phone (2594 0460). Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The conference programme and speakers list are also available at the website.
Ends/Monday, June 19, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:57
NNNN