The person said the top policymaking body had discussed the matter a few months ago and some “technical issues” were raised during the meeting .

“The licence renewal issue will be resolved ‘in weeks’. Exco is expected to renew the licences of the two radio stations next month,” the person said.

The council, which did not meet on March 8 because several members were attending the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing, will not meet on March 29 – a day after the Easter holidays.

A government source said there were no grounds for the government to shorten the licences to three years, rather than the usual 12 years.

Commercial Radio chief adviser Stephen Chan Chi-wan said last month the Executive Council had veered from its common practice of announcing broadcasting licence renewals one year beforehand in the case of his station and Metro Broadcast, describing it as “unusual”.

The two stations submitted renewal applications in the middle of 2014.

In July 2003, more than a year before the expiry of their licences, the Executive Council renewed the licences of Commercial Radio and Metro for another 12 years.

READ MORE: Commercial Radio agrees not to contest HKU gagging order – but other media could launch challenge to protect press freedom

A source close to Commercial Radio said the Communications Authority wrote to the broadcaster on June 18, 2014 asking if it intended to renew its licence.

The broadcaster replied to the authority a month later, indicating its intention to renew.

Local political controversies have previously weighed on licence renewal applications. In 2012, former chief executive contender Henry Tang Ying-yen alleged that his arch rival, Leung Chun-ying, had in 2003 – while an Exco member – masterminded a push for a much shorter renewal for Commercial Radio. Leung denied the allegation.

Two years later, Commercial Radio host Li Wei-ling, known for criticising the government, was sacked. She accused the broadcaster of betraying her and bowing to “suppression” by the government ahead of licence-renewal negotiations.

The broadcaster denied giving in to pressure, but declined to disclose the grounds for dismissal.

The source close to Commercial Radio said the broadcaster was once worried that the saga over its airing of two recordings, which were believed to have been made during a closed-door meeting of the University of Hong Kong council in September, had cast a shadow over its licence renewal.

In October, the university secured an injunction to ban the radio station and “persons unknown” from publishing information about its business, including papers and audio recordings of its meetings.

The move came after Commercial Radio aired the two recordings.

The council voted down liberal scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun’s candidacy for a key management position.

In November, Commercial Broadcasting, the parent company of Commercial Radio, agreed to settle with the university and to be bound by an agreement not to publish further information relating to council meetings.

A spokesman for the Office of the Communications Authority said: “Whether a licence is renewed is decided by the Executive Council.”