TVB Loses Court Case Over Fried Chicken

Hong Kong's biggest free-to-air broadcaster, TVB, on Thursday lost a legal bid to justify its "indirect advertising" of a fast food chain's fried chicken during a programme in 2015.

In an awards ceremony, actors were seen eating the chicken, with close-up shots of the food along with the logo of the restaurant.

After receiving complaints from viewers, the Communications Authority ruled in 2016 that footage of the fried chicken was not justifiable from an editorial point of view, and was a "blatant" promotion of the products. The authority ruled that TVB had breached the advertising code and it fined the station HK$150,000.

But TVB secured a judicial review after arguing that the authority's decision was in breach of the broadcaster's freedom of expression, and therefore violated the Bill of Rights and the Basic Law.

The station's lawyer also argued that the criteria in the code are subjective and vague.

But a High Court judge on Thursday ruled against the broadcaster.

Justice Thomas Au said freedom of expression is never an absolute right, and is subject to lawful and proportionate restrictions.

He also said the relevant code is "sufficiently and clearly formulated" for TVB to be able to understand the criteria -- adding that the facts should be put into context and looked at via a "rational and common approach".

Au said the rights of the viewers not to be subjected to unnecessary material could justify the limitations on TVB's freedoms.

The judge also noted that as a general proposition, where there's a commercial element involved, justification of the limitation of one's freedom has a lower threshold.

The broadcaster also lost in another judicial review case over a Communications Authority decision regarding a programme during which the hosts discussed services provided by a subsidiary of TVB.