RADIO AND TV LICENCE FEES

RADIO AND TV LICENCE FEES: 8.

Mr Baey Yam Keng asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (a) if the Ministry has identified the lapses in the fee collection process which resulted in the over-collection of $6.06 million in radio and TV licence fees from about 684,000 households since 2005; (b) what steps it will take to correct this and prevent future mistakes; and (c) how and by when the money will be refunded to the affected households and parties.

9.

Ms Audrey Wong Wai Yen asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts in view of lapses in the administration of the Scheme for Co-Investment in Exportable Content (SCREEN) noted in the Report of the Auditor-General for FY08/09 (a) what measures are being taken by the Media Development Authority to recover outstanding revenues; and (b) what have been the financial and non-financial returns from SCREEN so far.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong) (for the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts): For Mr Baey Yam Keng's question, I would like to explain that the $6.06 million are actually not cases of over-collection but rather they are un-refunded vehicle radio and household TV licence fees. Unclaimed refunds for vehicle licences make up about 85% of the 684,000 cases with TV licences the remaining 15%. Most car owners and car dealers do not actively seek refund of their vehicle licence from MDA after their vehicles are transferred or deregistered as the pro-rated refund amount is quite small. Almost half (48%) of these 684,000 cases have outstanding refunds only below $2.50, while the rest of the cases of outstanding refunds are mostly below $20. For household TV licences, property owners have similarly not sought refunds for the TV licence cancellations.

Since the audit by AGO, MDA has refunded $2.3 million of the earlier unclaimed amount of $6.06 million. To clear the rest of the outstanding cases amounting to about $3.8 million, an automated process to proactively refund excess payment and an auto-posting of undue claims to MOF’s website on unclaimed public monies will be implemented by October this year. Previous owners of houses or vehicles which have changed ownership may refer to www.unclaimedmonies.gov.sg or approach the MDA for licence fee refunds if they have not done so.

And now I would like to respond to Ms Audrey Wong's question. Under the Media 21 Blueprint, MDA established the Scheme for Co-Investment in Exportable Content (SCREEN) to better ensure our own local media sector and the industry can gain a larger share of the production and post production work done in Singapore.

MDA adopted a co-investment approach instead of just simply giving a direct grant or subsidy through SCREEN for the purpose of reducing market distortion. AGO reported that $9.89 million of revenue was outstanding to MDA from the 46 projects observed under the SCREEN. MDA would like to explain that this $9.89 million is actually a forecast or projected but yet-to-be-realised revenue from the 46 projects. Based on the media industrial norm, it will usually take a few years for these projects to yield their actual revenue. So far, some of these projects have already produced about $130,000 which is due to MDA as at the end of June this year. MDA is currently taking steps to collect this amount from the relevant project owners. MDA aims to complete this collection by the end of 2009. MDA will also further monitor closely the development of all the other 46 projects and will initiate action to collect the revenues whenever they are due.

In terms of returns and the benefits from the SCREEN initiative, it is actually a programme that is conceived mainly as a capacity building tool to boost our local media sector. In the past three years, SCREEN has raised the profile of Singapore as an emerging creative hub with more than 180 co-production projects made, sold, distributed or broadcasted in more than 50 countries. Examples of successful projects include the Little Tao Shu – The Warrior Boy which has won the US-based iParenting Media Award; The Home Song Stories has received seven nominations at the Golden Horse Awards; and I Got Rocket – an animated TV series has won an Emmy Award for 3D Animated TV Series in 2008. Our locally made productions through the support of SCREEN actually had made headway internationally.

As of 31st March 2009, more than 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs were created under SCREEN, with $164.8 million committed by international and local production houses to be spent in Singapore. Through SCREEN, MDA has helped to build up a core group of local TV, film and animation companies which own or co-own intellectual property and these companies are capable of producing top quality projects with leading international players.

Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar): Thank you, Sir. I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the clarification. I would like to ask him since the radio and TV licence fee is tied to either a vehicle or the household, would the Ministry consider tying the refund or transfer of any balance of the fee to that of road tax, COE or property tax?

My second question is, since there is administrative hassle which we need to minimise for both the Authority as well as the licence holder, would the Ministry consider setting a deadline for the claims to be made and provide a provision for the Authority to deploy the unclaimed refunds (that are past the deadline) back into the Public Service Broadcasting Fund to support more content productions?

My last supplementary question is, for the non-internet savvy public who may not be able to go to the website to claim the refund, could the Parliamentary Secretary elaborate on what are the means and channels where they could claim those refunds?

Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong: For the refund of the unclaimed fees, MDA is now working on the system to proactively refund the fees. It is developing a system that it is hoping to put in place in October this year. Essentially, what this new system does is that, the MDA will do a daily auto-offset through automation to offset excess paid against any other fees payable by the same customer, that is any customer who has got this unclaimed TV licence or any other radio licence, MDA will pick it up and then will offset any other fees that this same customer is due.

The second component is that the MDA will also put in place a daily auto-refund to the customers including the TV and the radio, if the accumulated refunds to any customer exceed $20.

And lastly, the MDA will also put in place a monthly auto-posting to publish any unclaimed monies online so as to cater to the list of people who are internet savvy. But for those who are not internet savvy, MDA will trace the record, the address and then we will take it up individually with the owners of the unclaimed monies. Deadline for the refund, since there is this new system put in place, MDA will aim to completely refund all the money by the end of this year to those who have the contactable address.

For those who do not have the contactable address, MDA will post the names on the website for the people to find out. I hope I have addressed your questions.

Ms Audrey Wong Wai Yen (Nominated Member): Supplementary question, Sir. With regard to the various schemes from MDA for investment in film and television production in Singapore, does MDA conduct regular periodic reviews of all these schemes? Would these reviews be available to the public or to the industry with information such as the specific projects that were funded, how much was the investment and what were the returns?

Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong: The SCREEN programme has been in place for about five, six years. So MDA is currently conducting a review on the procedures for funding principles, and so on. We will consult the industry. Once the review is completed, it will be published to the industry concerned with the purpose of further improving the scheme to better make Singapore a more attractive international creative hub.