(22 August 2016) Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) today launched a legal challenge against the Communications Authority’s (CA) ruling on indirect advertising in the programme “TV Awards Presentation 2015” on 13 December last year.

In an application for judicial review filed at High Court today, TVB contended that the CA’s decision handed down on 24 May 2016, alleging eating fried chicken in the TV show was a breach of the Codes of Practice, was irrational, unreasonable and contravened the Bill of Rights.

“According to our legal advice, the CA’s decision is unconstitutional because the concerned provisions of the Codes of Practice intrude on the right to free expression, and the CA is not an independent and impartial tribunal to determine TVB’s rights and obligations in a suit at law,” a TVB spokesman said.

“Product sponsorship is a practice commonly adopted by the TV industry around the world to finance their productions. The heavy-handed limitations on product sponsorship in Hong Kong goes against the international trend and is not conducive to the development of the Hong Kong TV industry.”