LATE NIGHT TV NEWS (Request for reinstatement)

Mr Chin Harn Tong asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether, in the light of the budgetary constraint which caused the late news bulletin on channels 8 and 12 to be discontinued in January 1989, the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation would videotape an amplified version of the summary of news headlines at the end of the main TV news programme for broadcast later in the evening for the benefit of Singaporeans who miss the main TV news programme.

The Minister for Communications and Information (Dr Yeo Ning Hong): Sir, SBC reviewed the need for the late night TV news last year. The reason for discontinuing the late night news was because of the very low viewership.

Apart from TV News, SBC keeps the public informed on the key issues of the day by many other means. For example, most of SBC's radio channels have news bulletins once every hour on the hour up to midnight and on certain channels beyond. SBCText also features the latest news up to midnight. Hence, SBC feels that it is not necessary to produce an amplified version of the news summary for telecast later in the evening when there is no viewership.