**UPDATED**Breaking news: Ricky Wong gives up on television dreams?

8/21/17 UPDATE:  I found out some more information about this whole thing that I felt necessary to share.  Apparently, in addition to RW selling his stake in HKTV, there was also an “official” announcement made where HKTV said that they are “reconsidering” the second application they had made for a free-to-air license 2 years ago (I read the official announcement in Chinese…not sure if I’ll have time to translate and post it though…).  This is interpreted to mean that HKTV is no longer interested in obtaining a free-to-air license and may rescind their application at some point in the next few months.  Also, HK-based Mainland station Phoenix TV officially rescinded their application awhile back ago and Forever Top’s David Chiu has put his application on hold as well due to his recent success in “acquiring” i-Cable (whose new free-to-air arm Fantastic Television launched earlier this year). 

So it looks like we go from having several potential contenders for additional free-to-air licenses to ZERO.  Though officially right now there are 3 free-to-air TV stations in HK – TVB, ViuTV, Fantastic Television – we all know that the 2 newer TV stations don’t stand a chance against powerhouse TVB…so basically, we are essentially right back to where we started from in that TVB will continue to hold their monopoly over the HK television industry, probably for the rest of their existence.

Obviously I’m disappointed...and with everything else going on in HK right now, this issue just adds to the frustration….

*****

I don't usually do these types of short posts but I don't have access to a computer at the moment and come across this important news that I needed to share.

According to the 2 news articles below, Ricky Wong has officially sold his stake in HKTV.  The first article gives the details on the financial part of the transaction and the second is an interview of sorts with Ricky Wong where he says something that, coincidentally, I've been saying for the past 2 years:  the HK television industry has changed tremendously in the past few years since he applied for a license and it is no longer a viable option for him.

As much as I support HKTV -- and would still support them if they did decide to resume operations -- I'm not blind to the fact that things have changed the past couple years and the road would've been 10x more difficult for both HKTV and Ricky Wong than it was before.  It looks like RW finally realizes this now and has decided to "stop the bleeding" now before it got even worse.

Of course, I'm saddened by this, even though I already knew it was inevitable.  But I think more than anything else, I'm angry because this means TVB has won the battle and unfortunately for the HK entertainment industry, this means yet another nail in the coffin (those who've been following my blog and my posts on this issue will know what I'm talking about).

More thoughts to come once I'm able to get back to accessing via a computer.

Article 1:

http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2107558/media-maverick-ricky-wong-sells-hktv-stake-affiliated-company?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=edm&utm_content=20170821&utm_campaign=scmptoday&emarsys=1&sc_src=email_1992740&sc_llid=11320&sc_lid=145121677&sc_uid=Oz6wn5uqoP 

Article 2:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2107423/hong-kong-media-mogul-ricky-wong-may-give-free-air-tv-dream