Television giant TVB has called the requirement to air RTHK programs "outdated" after it was criticized for rescheduling a controversial show during President Xi Jinping's visit.

In a statement yesterday, TVB said Xi's visit was important news, calling RTHK "ignorant" for considering the president's speech of less importance than Headliner, the program that was moved.

This came after TVB rescheduled RTHK political satire program Headliner, which covered Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, from TVB Jade at 6pm last Friday to J5 at 12.30am Sunday.

TVB told RTHK the program change was to make way for some breaking news, but it played the pre- recorded news clips of Xi's visit instead, followed by a feng shui program.

RTHK criticized TVB for the short notice, and said it did not consent to the change.

TVB argued that it decided to broadcast the whole footage of Xi's speeches on the Jade channel at the earliest possible time to cater for the needs of hundreds of thousands of analogue TV viewers, adding that RTHK agreed on the reschedule contrary to the public broadcaster's claims.

"We had immediately informed RTHK of the pre-emption of Headliner and offered to reschedule the program to Jade at the same time slot the next day or on J5 channel at 12.30am that night. RTHK agreed to choose the latter after discussion," the statement said.

TVB also said RTHK should stop using, free of charge, the precious high- rating time slot of commercial TV stations merely to repeat their programs, depriving viewers of program choices since RTHK now has two new analogue TV channels.

"This also adversely affects the commercial TV stations in its programming and rescheduling flexibility. The outdated arrangement should cease at the soonest," the statement said.

Lawmaker Charles Mok said TVB was trying to shift the focus by calling the requirement to air RTHK programs outdated. What deserves attention is whether the broadcaster violates any law by rescheduling the program, Mok said.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang- wah said he has noticed that many citizens filed complaints with the Communications Authority regarding TVB's sudden reschedule. "We have received 133 complaints until yesterday," Yau said. "The Communications Authority will follow up on the case according to the mechanism and licensing requirements."