CRHK radio program "On A Clear Day" Special Edition -- recap + my thoughts.... (part 1)

In light of all the changes in the HK television industry in the past few years as well as the 'TV war' that will be in full swing next month when ATV goes off the air and ViuTV officially launches, CRHK (Commercial Radio) did a special 'discussion forum' on the topic of 'competition in the television industry'.

Stephen Chan did a special edition of his “On a Clear Day” radio program where he invited the ‘higher ups’ from the main TV players (minus TVB of course) to discuss the HK television industry and also their future plans. He also invited representatives from the HK Advertising Association to get their take on the TV industry from an advertising and sponsorship standpoint. Those invited include: LeTV (now LeEco) CEO Mok Chui Tin, HKTV chairman Ricky Wong, former ATV chairman Ip kar Bo, ViuTV’s CEO Lofai Lo, and HK Advertising Association (aka HK 4As) representative Raymond Ho.

Below is the program in its entirety from Youtube.  For those who have been following the free TV license saga and everything else that has been going on in the HK television industry, I absolutely recommend watching this program, as it is VERY informative and there is alot of fascinating stuff that comes out of it.  It's quite long (almost 2 hours), but well worth the time!

For those who might not get the chance to watch, I will attempt to do a detailed recap, however just note that the recap is written from my own perspective, so there will obviously be personal opinions and commentary incorporated into it (had to make this clear in case some people get on my case about it).

Also, even though the program itself is one continuous clip without breaking up into parts, my recap will be spread out in multiple blog posts, as there is just way too much information for me to cram everything into one post in one sitting (plus need time to digest everything as well organize my notes).  There is no significance to the way I separated out things in terms of part 1, part 2, etc. -- it's pretty much what I had time to organize and type up at the moment (though I will try as much as possible to keep things in chronological order the way they occurred in the program).

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On A Clear Day special edition:  電視擂台 在晴朗的一天搶收視

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Recap + My Thoughts - part 1

First of all, I wanted to give kudos to CRHK and Stephen Chan, as they did a great job with the program.  The questions that the hosts asked were very relevant and some I would even consider 'brave' given the circumstances.  And it's obvious that the CRHK team did their homework, as the comments they made showed that they had put alot of work into incorporating alot of the current happenings in the TV industry.  Oh and even though I'm not fond of Stephen Chan, I do have to say that watching him host this program reminded me once again what a flamboyant host he truly is (and of course why TVB wanted to get rid of him -- his jab at TVB in the opening segment was so funny, yet at the same time so absolutely true!).  I also loved all the 'innuendos' in the program that people who haven't been following the TV industry or HK news in general probably won't understand (like that 'chocolate local egg' gift that they gave Finance Commissioner John Tsang -- I couldn't help chuckling at the symbolism behind that!)

I'm not surprised that petty TVB decided not to participate.  It's obvious from Mark Lee's comments in the audio clip they aired that TVB does not support competition.  It's actually kind of funny and sad at the same time.  I think if you ask 10 out of 10 people, they would say that "with competition comes improvement" -- the only way for a company to continually improve and get better is through competition.  However, as we all heard, TVB's stance is:  "competition does NOT bring improvement".   This shows that all the criticism we've been saying about TVB being complacent and arrogant and not wanting to improve is absolutely on the ball!

Having the representative from the advertising association (Raymond Ho from HK Advertising Association) there was absolutely a smart move, as he was able to clarify alot of things regarding the advertising piece.  Plus, we all know that one of the main 'excuses' the government gave for denying HKTV a license is that they felt the HK market cannot support an additional TV station and that there was not enough advertising to go around -- a point that TVB also adamantly supports and has reiterated time and time again (lost count already how many times those TVB execs threw the advertising thing in people's faces).  Well, based on what Raymond Ho said, the conclusion that I've come to is that TVB IS LYING!!!!  They are trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes since most ordinary folks won't understand the advertising process anyway.  As Raymond Ho emphasized (which is the same thing that Ricky Wong has been saying for like the past 4 years), the 'advertising pie' is fairly large and there is enough to 'share' with everyone.

There are a few other  points about the advertising piece that I found very interesting:  

1) HKTV got 80% support from advertisers back when they were in the running for a license. Raymond Ho explained the workshop and survey process they did, which he said they repeated this year with ViuTV and Netflix coming on board:  he said the response was less enthusiastic from advertisers, partly because of the economy, but a big reason too is because those stations weren't as 'high profile' and vocal as Ricky Wong in communicating their programs and such, so with the element of unknown there, some advertisers wanted to take the 'wait and see' approach.  The result of the survey was only 60% support from advertisers (still good, but obviously lower than what HKTV got)

2) The part about TVB 'forcing' advertisers to only work exclusively with them by offering better rates and better ad spots was an eye-opener for me -- had no clue that TVB was doing that, though it does make sense given their obsession with monopolizing the industry.  Turns out they are 'monopolizing' the advertising too by increasing rates year after year so that they can broker 'deals' with advertisers to only place ads with their station  by offering incentive packages and lower rates for doing so.  

3) It was obvious from Raymond Ho's comments that many advertisers have had enough of TVB's antics and 'games'.  He emphasized that HK4As' stance (which represents the stance of most of HK's advertisers) is that they WELCOME new TV stations and competition to join the industry.  Stephen Chan asked him whether that meant they are opposed to having only 1 TV station monopolize the entire industry, to which Raymond Ho responded:  "We are strongly opposed to having only 1 TV station".  In fact, he revealed that the Advertising Association had sent letters to the Communications Authority in the past and also released official statements expressing that from an advertising standpoint, they would like to see more TV stations join the industry and more variety in programming content for audiences.

BREAKING NEWS: Jacky’s concert tour confirmed!!!!

Finally!  Jacky attended Filmart yesterday to promote his new movie Heaven in the Dark (which premieres in HK on 3/24).  During one of the interview sessions, he confirmed that his concert tour will kick off in October as originally scheduled (refuting recent rumors that his concert was being put on hold due to legal disputes with his former concert manager Florence Chan).  The first few stops will be in Mainland China (not HK as previously rumored).  As for when the HK shows will take place, Jacky said the earliest would be in December.

The official announcement from Universal hasn’t come out yet (they issued a statement today refuting rumors but didn’t go into detail about the concert itself), but according to Jacky, Universal will be making a formal announcement with more details very soon.

As I’ve done in the past, I will be posting up information about Jacky’s concert dates and venues as the information comes out, so definitely stay tuned!  Also, I will be amending this post later on with a few links to news articles/clips where Jacky talks about his concert.

Lastly, in related news, in addition to preparing for his concert, Jacky has been busy the past few weeks promoting his new movie Heaven in the Dark.  Since my last post a few weeks ago, there have been tons more promo material released about the movie, including another trailer, a few behind-the-scenes production clips, and more than 2 dozen interviews with various media outlets.  I’m working on getting all the info together so I can post it up on my blog, but it will take some time, since there is so much stuff out there now.  Those interested please check back later this week.  Thanks!

BREAKING NEWS: It's curtains for ATV: Liquidators to shut down ailing broadcaster tomorrow after Hong Kong court decision cleared the way

As a means of follow up to my previous post…

Tomorrow (technically today HK time) marks the end of an era:  ATV will officially be shut down.

FINALLY!  I know this sounds harsh, but honestly, ATV has been on life support for at least a year now (if not more).  Rather than continue to drag out a slow death (and drag all the employees along with it), the best option is to end ATV’s misery once and for all, especially since the station is already beyond salvageable.

At this point, I don’t feel like rehashing all the reasons why ATV got to this state, as I’ve already beaten the horse to death with my information overload on this issue both on my blog and in various forums.  As I’ve said before, I don’t feel sorry for the employees and workers who decided to stay with ATV despite knowing the situation they were in (and especially after ATV failed to pay salaries month after month), as they had the choice to leave but instead decided to stay and continue to be ‘played’ by management.  However, I do sincerely hope that things will look up for them in that they are able to find work now that ATV is officially being shutdown.

Below is an article that came out today from SCMP…no doubt that there will be more information to come in the next couple days as the shutdown of ATV is finalized:

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BREAKING NEWS: It's curtains for ATV: Liquidators to shut down ailing broadcaster tomorrow after Hong Kong court decision cleared the way

Source: SCMP

Six decades of Hong Kong television history will come to an end today when court-appointed liquidators finally pull the plug on ATV after its mainland investor failed to come up with the cash to save the dying station.

Following months of uncertainty, turmoil, and litigation, accounting firm Deloitte China said last night the HK$8 million cash injection needed to keep the worlds first Chinese-language TV station alive had not been forthcoming and all remaining staff would be laid off.

Deloitte representatives will be at Asia Television's Tai Po headquarters Friday morning to hand out termination letters and figure out how to shut down transmission.

Derek Lai Kar-yan, Deloitte China's southern region managing partner, was unable to say last night when exactly ATV would be taken off air.

They would have to retain a few technical staff to figure out the details, he said.

But it could be a week without any signal as RTHK, which has been tasked with filling the vacuum, will not be ready with analogue programming until around March 10.

The Communications Authority said it had yet to receive a notification from Deloitte as to when ATV would stop broadcasting  or if broadcasting would resume. It called for details as soon as possible so it could take back the spectrum occupied by ATV.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung expressed regret over ATV's early collapse.

Deloitte noted that the High Court, which allowed a petition from ATV's mainland investor, Si Rongbin, to delay the shutdown earlier this week, would no longer interfere with the liquidator's bid to prevent further liability by dragging out its demise.

Deloitte is acting on behalf of major creditor Wong Ching, ATV's former boss who sold his stake to Si, but wants the station liquidated as the deal was not completed and he is still owed HK$1.8 billion.

Lai said Si, with whom he negotiated the sale of ATV's controlling stake last year, failed to cough up HK$8 million as a guarantee to support the stations operation for this month before its free-to-air licence expires on April 1.

While most ATV employees were said to have walked out already after the station failed to pay them two months' wages, Deloitte estimated there were still more than 400 employees left.

Many of them spoke of feeling sad but also relieved that it was all finally over.

ATV actor Frankie Choi Kwok-wai said: "Enough is enough...but as a veteran it's heartbreaking to witness this TV station has come to such an ugly end."

Choi said he was co-ordinating a meeting with Deloitte to resolve contract issues for artists as their employment terms were different from news department and other staff.

Others appeared confused by all the last-minute drama.

"It has been taking so many twists and turns, and I dont know whom I should really trust," said Man Ming, a 53-year-old security guard who has been with the company for more than 10 years.

Jane He, who represents Si, questioned Deloitte's motives in shutting down the station "so abruptly and violently".

She said they had the money to carry on running the station, but that they did not trust the liquidators with it.

HK Television War: Latest Updates

There has been quite a lot going on in the HK television industry as of late, so I felt it would be appropriate to give a quick update.  Note that this is just a quick summary and not meant to be all-inclusive, so please bear this in mind in case I may have missed anything in my post.

ATV shutdown:  To pull the plug or not to pull the plug….

The biggest news from today and yesterday is the shutdown of ATV.  Deloitte, the company tasked with liquidating ATV, was given orders to immediately shutdown ATV yesterday – in fact, they went as far as having a meeting with all of ATV’s remaining employees and handing them termination letters on the spot.  The last step was a scheduled press conference to announce the immediate shutdown to the public – but that was stopped by a last minute court order that ATV’s Mainland investor Si Rongbin was able to get whereby Deloitte must hold off on their actions until Thursday when the court will convene to determine ATV’s fate.  [This is the ‘in a nutshell’ version of what went down – for details, read this  article from SCMP].  

And so, ATV will continue to be in operations for another 2 days at least (maybe longer depending on which party the court sides with).  Honestly, this whole ATV thing has gotten so stupid that it defies the depths of logic.  I personally hope that the court sides with the Deloitte people and ATV gets shut down immediately – I would rather they put everyone (ATV’s workers as well as all us audiences) out of our misery than continue to let those bastard execs at ATV continue to play their stupid games.  I guess we will have to wait until Thursday at 10am HKT to see whether we’ll have to continue putting up with this sorry excuse for a TV station for another month!!

ViuTV launch:   TVB’s ‘non-competitor’….for now at least

Now that NowTV/PCCW finally has their free-to-air license, the plans to launch their new station ViuTV is underway.  The official launch date will be on April 6th (though there will be what they call a ‘soft launch’ on 3/31 where those who have NowTV set top boxes will be able to start receiving the service) and they’ve already held a press conference detailing their programming plans.  I’m going to save the details for another post, but just know that from day one, ViuTV is not going to be anywhere near a competitor for TVB, as their target audience and market will be completely different.  ViuTV will be targeting the younger audiences who have pretty much already stopped watching TVB and ATV – their programming will consist of primarily variety programs (or what they call “factual entertainment” programs).  The general manager of ViuTV said that their intention is to give HK audiences a different option and made it clear that their target audience is “the local Cantonese-speaking audience who read traditional Chinese instead of simplified” (LOL…obvious jab at TVB’s recent bonehead decision to use simplified characters for their newscasts instead of traditional ones, sparking a record 10,000+ complaints to the Communications Authority).    In addition to focusing on variety, news, and children’s programming, they will also air TV series from other countries (i.e. Thailand, Japan, Korea).  How about local Cantonese dramas, you might ask?  ViuTV says that they ARE going to begin producing dramas, but only selectively.  The first drama that will be part of the lineup (not sure if the drama has already been filmed or it is being filmed currently – will need to read up more on it) is called Margaret and David, which is a drama adapted from a famous novel.  The series will star Bowie Lam and Catherine Chau.

Reading through the details of their programs, the show that I found most interesting and I think will resonate with audiences (and kudos to ViuTV for daring to attempt this) is Travel With Rivals – a travelogue show that will pair up rivals from the political and entertainment worlds and have them go on outings together.  The ‘pairings’ that have been announced so far are:  Legco president Jasper Tsang paired with controversial legislator Leung Kwok-hung (better known as ‘Long Hair’); 100Most co-founder Roy Lam Yat Hei paired with legislator Ann Chiang Lai Wan (they represent opposite ends of the societal spectrum – the youths pushing for HK’s independence vs the pro-establishment camp advocating solidarity with China); singer Denise Ho is paired with actor/singer Zac Koo (this one is obvious – Denise is a lesbian who is also an outspoken proponent of gay rights while Zac is a devout Christian who is also a known homophobic and very vocal about his beliefs).   I am curious about this show, primarily because it is so different and controversial and it will be interesting to see how things play out – most importantly though, this is the type of show that TVB will never ever make even if you gave them a billion dollars (for this reason alone, the show is worth watching in my book!).

 
TVB ‘myTV Super’ launch:  same old crap from a soon-to-be 'legitimate' monopoly

TVB has confirmed that their new internet platform myTV Super (which sounds to me like nothing more than a glorified version of their current myTV channel) will officially launch on April 18th.  The platform will feature 20 channels with programs ranging from TV series, music shows, news casts, infotainment shows, variety shows, etc. and will be in high quality digital format with the ability for audiences to re-watch programs of their liking.  In terms of TV series, the plan so far is to air a few of their new series (that Season of Love series is already scheduled to premiere on day one) plus a long lineup of ‘outside’ series that TVB bought the airing rights to from Mainland China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.  What I’m most curious about is whether they will air ‘classics’ on this platform (i.e. old TVB series and variety programs from the 70s/80s/90s) – there have been rumors from the HK media that TVB will air ‘old’ shows, but since TVB has yet to confirm it, I won’t bank on that being true just yet.  Oh, one ‘caveat’ that is very important to mention – this will be a subscription-based platform, which means that those audiences who were looking for a free service are pretty much out of luck (I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who finds it ironic that TVB is now going to charge audiences for formerly ‘free’ content).

In my opinion, this myTV Super thing is a desperate ‘money-grab’ attempt by TVB – sorry if this sounds harsh, but I honestly don’t know how else to describe it.  Most of the stuff that TVB is planning to put on the platform is stuff that is currently already accessible to all audiences.  Sure, they claim that they are going to air some new, ‘innovative’ programming content (such as a show that will allow artists to put their own creative ideas into production and interact with audiences), but to be honest, given TVB’s track record and their ‘policy’ of avoiding controversy, I highly doubt anything will come of this.  At this moment in time, I will be interested in myTV Super ONLY if TVB does end up going the route of airing their classic series and variety programs on the platform, as that content is definitely worth paying for – otherwise, why should I pay to watch their current series, especially when majority of those series nowadays are crappy?

Concluding thoughts….

For those of you wondering, there is still no word from i-Cable on what their plans are for their free-TV launch – in fact, the  Communications Authority has said that the government already requested a detailed proposal from i-Cable and have given them a deadline to provide the information in order to ‘keep’ the license that was granted to them ‘in principle’.  Of course, given how badly the government mishandled the ATV thing (don’t even get me started on how poorly managed the whole ATV shutdown movement was, as I could probably complain for hours about it), I wouldn’t be surprised if i-Cable continues to remain in its ‘limbo’ status indefinitely.

Also still no decision on the new free-to-air license applications that were submitted (by David Chiu’s consortium and also the resubmitted application from HKTV).  Not sure if we will hear something next month, since the government has basically been using the ATV shutdown as an ‘excuse’ to not make a decision yet (the argument is that they need to wait until the April 1st license revocation deadline that they gave ATV – once the license is officially taken away and thereby ‘available’, then they can make the determination on who should get that license).  While I’m sure that once April 1st rolls around, people are going to start asking what will happen to the license, I highly doubt that the current administration is going to respond with anything specific…my guess is that they will try everything possible to continue stalling until next year so that if there is any backlash that results (which there undoubtedly will be), the incoming administration can deal with it instead of themselves.