Broadcasting Act 1994 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 10 · Ownership and Control of Broadcasting Companies
44. Broadcasting company owned by foreign source
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A company must not, unless the Minister otherwise approves, be granted or hold a relevant licence if the Minister is satisfied that —
licence
“licence” means a licence granted under any provision of this Act, and “licensee” is to be construed accordingly;
any foreign source, alone or together with one or more other foreign sources —
holds at least 49% of the shares in the company or its holding company; or
is in a position to control voting power of at least 49% in the company or its holding company; or
all or a majority of the persons having the direction, control or management of the company or its holding company are —
appointed by; or
accustomed or under an obligation, whether formal or informal, to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of,any foreign source, whether acting alone or together with one or more other foreign sources.
In subsection (1), where the holding company concerned is an umbrella VCC whose holding in or control of the company by virtue of which that company is a subsidiary of the umbrella VCC, is attributable to one or more of its sub-funds —
the reference to the shares in the holding company is to the shares in the umbrella VCC that are issued in respect of that sub-fund or those sub-funds; and
the reference to voting power in the holding company is to the voting power in the umbrella VCC that are exercisable in respect of that sub-fund or those sub-funds.
Where the Minister does not grant his or her approval under subsection (1) for a company to hold a relevant licence (whether the licence is granted before, on or after 2 September 2002), the Authority must, within such time and in such manner as the Minister may specify, cancel the licence by written notice and without any compensation.
For the purposes of this section —
a person holds a share if —
the person is deemed to have an interest in that share under section 7(6) to (10) of the Companies Act 1967; or
the person otherwise has a legal or an equitable interest in that share except for any interest that is to be disregarded under section 7(6) to (10) of the Companies Act 1967;
a reference to the control of a percentage of the voting power in a broadcasting company is a reference to the control, whether direct or indirect, of that percentage of the total number of votes that might be cast in a general meeting of the broadcasting company.
The application of subsection (3)(a) in relation to any share in a VCC is subject to the following modifications:
paragraph (ca) of section 7(9) of the Companies Act 1967 does not apply;
a book-entry security is treated as an interest in a share;
a person that is a subsidiary of a VCC does not have an interest in the shares of the VCC by reason only that that interest is purchased or otherwise acquired by the subsidiary under section 22(6) or (11) of the VCC Act.