LATE NIGHT NEWS (Telecast)

Mr Chin Harn Tong asked the Acting Minister for Information and the Arts (a) whether the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation will telecast shortened news programmes later in the evening for those who miss the earlier programmes and (b) whether, as an alternative or in addition to the repeat news programmes, the SBC will consider having a news-by-telephone service for persons without access to the teletext service.

The Acting Minister for Information and the Arts (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation had late night news bulletins until 1989. This was discontinued due to low viewership. The demand could not justify the considerable resources needed to produce and telecast such late night news.

The late Chinese news over Channel 8, for example, was watched by about 21,000-43,000 viewers, while the news at 8.00 pm in Chinese would commonly draw 435,000 viewers in 1989, which is about 5%-10%. As for the English news, which was telecast over Channel 12, it drew 1,000-3,000 viewers compared to news at 9.00 pm on Channel 5 of about 96,000 viewers in 1989.

SBC has alternative sources of news in SBCText and in its various radio services for those who want to keep in touch with the news. SBC will, however, continue to monitor interest in the late night TV news and reinstate them if the demand justifies the resources required for this.

As for news by telephone service, there is really no need for this as listeners can easily tune in to radio for the news. There are late news bulletins on our various radio channels.