MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

GermanyHeads of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria, Klaus Oettinger and Edmund Stoiber, said theproposed loosening of regulations on product placement was not acceptable and should berevised. The newly appointed Minister for Culture, Bernd Neumann, asked for a strictseparation between advertising and editorial content in the media. The German newspaperassociation BDZV has also expressed its opposition to the proposal. Contact: Dietmar Wolff,wolff@bdzv.de; Newsletter for Directors of WAN Member Associations - N ° 34 ; February2, 2006Legal / Company AnnouncementsHong KongAfter years of study, the stock exchange has finally decided to end its requirement thatcompanies buy newspaper advertisements to notify investors of significant news that mayaffect share prices. As a result, several English and Chinese-language newspapers, includingthe South China Morning Post, Standard and Hong Kong Economic Times, are expected tosuffer a significant loss of advertising revenue, while investors will have to turn to the web foraccess to company announcements. The move, which will also mean the routine suspensionof trading that accompanies many company announcements will no longer be needed, bringsthe Hong Kong market into line with reporting requirements long observed by most othermajor markets around the world. "Compared with other markets, Hong Kong's stock market isvery outdated and lagged behind in terms of using electronic ways to distribute information toinvestors," Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu saidyesterday in a speech to the Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies. The changes will takeeffect in the second half, a bit earlier than originally expected. The exchange also made iteasier than originally proposed for companies to post their announcements on the internet bypermitting them to use third-party providers if they do not maintain their own websites. Asubstantial minority of the 1,140 listed companies have no internet presence. Starting in thesecond half, Mr Chow said, companies would only need to buy headline notices innewspapers to alert the investors that certain kinds of announcements had been filed with thestock exchange and posted on the internet. If the information was not available on the websiteof the exchange or the company, or a third-party website, the company would have to publishthe announcement in full in a newspaper. After six months, even the headline advertisementswill not be required. "The paid-advertisement newspaper requirement is very expensive forissuers," Mr Chow said. "It also leads to the companies frequently suspending their sharespending announcements printed on newspapers the following day." The changes "will allowinvestors to enjoy faster release of company information and less frequent suspension ofcompany shares". Brokers will also have to adapt to the new system. The AMS/3 stocktrading system will only give an alert rather than provide the full text of companyannouncements. They will have to turn to the web for further information. In addition, MrChow said he would like to end the requirement that announcements must be pre-approved bythe exchange's listing division staff. He would prefer to have company announcementspoliced after the fact by the exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission. "To allowcompany announcement to be disseminated without pre-vetting at any time during a day willmake it much quicker for a company to announce news and to further reduce the need forcompanies to suspend their shares," he said. Ultimately, Mr Chow also wants to permitinvestors to subscribe to new share offerings and vote on shareholder resolutions over theinternet. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=45733; May 17, 200625