Entertainment Newsreel #3: Mostly television industry news....

Hello!  My apologies for how late this post is compared to my earlier newsreel post.  I’ve been really busy since returning from Jacky’s concert in mid-February so I’m still trying to play catch-up on some stuff.  Luckily, with the Chinese New Year holiday, there wasn’t a whole lot of major entertainment news the past two weeks (at least not stuff that I care about) so that’s good.

Below is this week’s newsreel post.  Note that it’s shorter than usual because I’m still catching up, plus most of what I wanted to relay about HKTV and the television industry I already posted up detailed articles on last week so make sure you check those out as well.

Television industry news

FOX ASIA

-          Someone asked me earlier if I knew when Fox Asia’s 2 HK series Trading Floor and Stain’d will air.  At the time, I said I don’t know because I truly didn’t know…but last week, I read an article where one of the executives from Fox said that both series are scheduled to air in “Spring 2018”.  Of course, that’s still a big vague, but at least it helps us narrow down the time period – since spring officially starts in March and lasts through May, then it’s pretty safe to say that both series will air anytime within the next 3 months, so watch for the official announcement (which I anticipate will come any minute now).

-          Honestly, I can’t wait, as I’ve been highly anticipating both series.  I even downloaded Fox’s app on my iPad already so I can be prepared once they air (and yes, I already combed through it when I downloaded it to see if there was any info about the 2 series, but so far nothing – I didn’t check last week though so unless they updated recently….).

ATV

-          So far, the only “big” news from ATV is that they are already working on the much-touted television remake of “A Better Tomorrow”.  ATV’s CEO Ng Yu attended an event recently and revealed that they are throwing millions of dollars into the production, though cast has still not been confirmed yet.   I personally still think that the leads are going to be Mainland artists, as Ng Yu pretty much “hinted” at such when he said that they “will be throwing millions of dollars into the production because they want to ensure quality and also well-qualified Mainland actors are expensive” (yes, he actually did mention Mainland actors and production costs in the same sentence, though he didn’t say outright that he was going to cast Mainland artists). 

-          Ng Yu also implied that he originally was thinking about having HK singer/actor William Chan star in the series.  When reporters asked him about the cast for ABT remake, Ng Yu said that they are still working on it, but the biggest problem is with artists’ schedules – for example, in the past, whenever he would approach William Chan to participate in something, he would readily oblige, however nowadays when he approaches him, he is not able to accommodate due to his busy schedule filming in Mainland (remember that Ng Yu was head of EEG before he got pulled out of retirement to head up ATV comeback venture and William was EEG artist, so of course he could get him to do anything he wanted).

-          As I’ve said before, I’m not keen on this whole remake thing, especially with such an iconic classic as ABT, so most likely I won’t watch anyway, no matter who they end up casting.  Personally, I’m just interested in seeing how ATV fares this time around and whether they will succeed in “re-inventing” themselves.  So far, it doesn’t look promising at all (read my previous posts on ATV and you’ll probably understand why) but it’s still early so we’ll see….

OCTB

-          I know everyone is dying to find out latest on OCTB.  The latest “news” on the OCTB front – this comes from a  post that OCTB production team put up on their social media pages back on 2/22: they will officially start filming Season 2 in Spring 2018 (everyone seems to love spring, lol), which pretty much means in the next couple weeks, with anticipated airing date of Winter 2018 (so December it looks like).  This is great news actually, as I originally thought we won’t get to watch season 2 until 2019, but looks like they are pushing for sooner – basically end of the year 2018.

-          The same social media post also indicated that there will be 2 major OCTB-related events coming up soon so watch for those announcements!  [Sidenote:  I have a feeling I might now know what those “events” are but I will hold off since I could be completely wrong for one and two, it sounds like the announcement will come really soon so no point in speculating].

-          The following is actually “old” news from end of February (I read about it at the time but didn’t have time to write up this post on it so figured I’d mention it here):

o   HMV setup a booth at the annual CNY fair in HK a few weeks ago selling all sorts of OCTB paraphernalia – pillows, mugs, playing cards, etc., all with OCTB cast and/or scenes and/or logo on them.   Justin Cheung (aka Jiu Jik) and Benji Chiang (aka Sai Wah) were responsible for manning the booth each day and helping to sell stuff (Justin especially since a lot of the stuff had his Jiu Jik character’s face on them, lol). 

o   Benji was interviewed and said that they actually have plans to release more OCTB merchandise in the coming months for fans to purchase, since it will be awhile before season 2 airs and they wanted to keep the momentum going.  He said that they are super excited about OCTB character action figures that are being made right now and also video games based on the series that are in the works as well.   Looks like they are definitely “going all out” in terms of promo for the series, which they can afford to do now that they’ve got Netflix backing them financially!

o   Speaking of Netflix…Justin was interviewed as well and was asked about season 2 and 3 filming.  He wouldn’t reveal too much of course but he did say that seasons 2 and 3 both got the green light to film.  Both seasons will also air on Netflix, which has become an investor in the series and will be contributing financially to the project (this of course means that future seasons could incorporate Hollywood stars).  Also, Justin’s character will continue to be significant in season 2 and they are currently planning out how his character will evolve…

Entertainment Newsreel #1: Television and some movie news…

As promised in my previous post, here's my first entertainment news updates post for this blog..

I welcome feedback so feel free to leave any suggestions you may have.  Also feel free to bring up any other recent happenings you might have read about in the comments if you want to (remember that I only included tidbits that I was interested in and most of the below was done from memory, so it’s definitely NOT all-inclusive).

Movie industry news

HONG KONG FILM AWARDS

-          Louis Cheung may be banned by TVB (through no fault of his own) but his fans don’t need to worry, as his footing in the HK movie industry is pretty solid.  He will be co-hosting this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards alongside Charlene Choi.  Given that this hosting job traditionally goes to artists who are established in the film industry, this is actually a pretty big deal for Louis, though with his experience in hosting TV programs, I think he’ll do fine.  Look forward to seeing his performance!

-          Speaking of HKFA – the news that came out last week is that ViuTV was granted exclusive broadcasting rights for the awards ceremony this year.  HKFA chair Derek Yee said that he is impressed with ViuTV’s sincerity and commitment to HKFA, as the station has a lot of pre-awards show events and programs planned (i.e. exclusive interviews, special feature pieces on the nominees, etc.).  Basically, ViuTV is doing way more than TVB ever did when they held broadcasting rights (not surprising of course, as it’s obvious TVB doesn’t respect the HKFA awards show).  I will definitely be tuning in this year to see how ViuTV does!  Oh, by the way, HKFA nominations will be announced on February 6th, so for those interested, might want to check on that day to see if their favorite movies / artists got nominated.

Television industry news

OCTB

-          This is kind of “old news” from last week but those of us who are dying to find out who will be joining the OCTB cast for season 2 may not have to wait too much longer.  The show’s co-producer (and lead actor) Danny Chan Kwok Kwan attended a function for his new movie last week and when asked by reporters about OCTB season 2, he confirmed that they will commence filming for season 2 right after the Chinese New Year holiday (which means that the final cast will be announced before then).  Not surprisingly, the reporters also tried to get Danny to reveal who will be joining the cast for the new season (with focus on whether any of the rumored Y&D artists will join), but of course, Danny was tight-lipped and refused to drop names – HOWEVER he did say that he just got word that a big name veteran agreed to do a cameo for them in season 2.  Danny said that they had reached out to the veteran thinking that the person would never agree but turns out they were wrong – the veteran will be filming 1 day for them, though not sure what this equates to in terms of screen time.

-          More OCTB news…I think it was last month (end of December), several of the guys from the OCTB cast (most of whom had become best buds during filming) held a party at veteran actor Michael Chan’s house (he played triad leader “Godfather” in OCTB) – though it was not an official OCTB cast party, there were still quite a few people from the series’ cast and crew there.  Justin Cheung had shared some pics on his social media account and of course, netizens seized the opportunity to “read into” the possibility that the pics might reveal some clues as to upcoming cast.  One of the artists spotted in the pics was actor Chin Siu Ho, who was not part of the original OCTB cast, so instantly, there was speculation that perhaps he would be part of the season 2 cast.  True or not, I have no clue.  I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

-      Sidenote (not really news but just a fun little piece for fellow fans of the series) -- in terms of former Y&D cast joining OCTB, my money is on Michael Tse and/or Anthony Wong (those were 2 out of the 4-5 names circulating on the Internet the past couple months).  I'm basing this on stuff I had read over the past few months and also the little I know of the artists' schedules and backgrounds.  Of course, I could be totally wrong and that's fine, but just thought I would throw this in, lol.  :-)

ATV

-          ATV had their official “re-launch” party last weekend (on January 29^th).  I didn’t watch the program (which I heard was aired live on their app as well as their OTT thingie) but according to several media outlets, the program was a “disaster.” I won’t judge whether the “disaster” part holds any water, since I didn’t watch the show, but here’s a quick recap courtesy of HK01 and also Mingpao:

-           

o   First, the biggest name guest star in attendance at the ceremony was George Lam, who opened the night singing several of his classic hits

o   After that, former “golden MC” Ivan Ho chatted up a storm with a bunch of former TVB/ATV people, but instead of introducing any upcoming ATV programs, they mostly reminisced about the “good old days” of the entertainment industry, even mentioning a few iconic “classic” programs that their supposed rival TVB produced (hmmm, I thought this was ATV’s launch party, why would they mention TVB productions?  Well, I guess one thing they’ve got going for them is that they don’t “censor” the mere mention of their rival station’s name like, um, their “rival station” does, lol….)

o   There were a bunch more musical performances, but almost all of the performances were singers from the 70s/80s who sang classic songs that most of the current audiences (meaning the younger generation audiences that ATV is supposedly targeting) probably had never heard of.  [Sidenote:  I laughed when HK01 noted in one of their articles that they actually thought they were watching TVB’s “Cantopop at 50” (minus the hosts of course) because of the similarity in style (of the launch party) to that program as well as all the veteran singers who participated.]

o   Stephen Chan, whose newly revamped “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is one of the key “selling points” for ATV’s comeback, was noticeably absent from the launch party.  Supposedly, Stephen Chan fell sick and had to pull out of the show last minute, so his buddy Wong Hei (who will be hosting a variety program for ATV) stepped in to host the ceremony in his place.

o   For me, the biggest “takeaway” from the ceremony in terms of implication for future were:

1)      Singer/actor Richie Jen attended the launch party along with artists under his management company (though the biggest name there from his company was William So…Edmond Leung was originally scheduled to be there too but since his high profile arrest for drunk driving was just a few days prior to the ceremony, obviously he had to skip, since his career has been put on hold at the moment…).  So perhaps this means future collaboration between Richie's artists and ATV?

2)      China 3D’s Stephen Shiu Jr. was in attendance and when interviewed by reporters, he very candidly “talked about” TVB’s ban on his artists and outright said there is a “high probability” that his company will be collaborating with ATV in the future (as a reminder, some of the “bigger names” under his management are -- Chilam Cheung, Myolie Wu, Louis Cheung, Justin Cheung, Gregory Wong).  Don’t be surprised if you see any of these artists filming stuff for ATV in the near future!

-          In terms of the big 64 million dollar question – will ATV resume filming series?  Well, those of you who read my previous 2 posts about ATV’s comeback will probably know that they were originally planning on doing 2 remakes this year:  a TV series remake of John Woo’s iconic movie “A Better Tomorrow” (the one that starred Chow Yun Fat, Leslie Cheung, and Ti Lung) and also a remake of ATV’s own classic hit series “My Date With A Vampire”.  If you read the update to those same posts, you will probably also know that ATV hit a snag with both these planned remakes, as it looks like their new CEO Ng Yu didn’t do his homework prior to announcing their plans (he later admitted that he hadn’t finished going through all of ATV’s old paperwork/records yet, as he was only hired on by the Mainland company that currently owns ATV back in April of last year and so there was still a lot of work to be done in terms of “catching up” with ATV’s past history). 

o   At the re-launch party, Ng Yu confirmed that the remake of “A Better Tomorrow” will move forward despite actor/singer Stephen Fung’s company issuing a statement claiming they hold the rights to ABT and did not authorize ATV to do a remake.  Apparently, Stephen Fung’s company holds the rights to the original TV version while a different company holds the rights to the John Woo movie version – ATV did get permission from the company holding the rights to the John Woo version (that company is supposedly going to release a statement soon), so their remake will proceed.

o   The remake of MDWAV is still a no go (though there was no mention of this at the launch party – not surprising of course given the embarrassment).  Fox Asia still holds the rights to MDWAV (which ATV had sold to them a few years ago but the current execs conveniently forgot) and they are actually planning on remaking the series themselves, so pretty sure they are not going to authorize ATV to do any type of remake.  Ng Yu did say (back in December when Fox issued their statement) that they were going to discuss with Fox and see if they are open to a collaboration – if Fox agrees, then ATV still has a chance…I guess we shall wait and see.

o   Oh and to add salt to the wound -- the series that ATV had previously announced was going to be their “debut” series (Mainland series “The Legend of Ba Qing” starring Fan Bing Bing) which they supposedly spent big bucks to buy….well, it was announced last week that the air date in Mainland China will be delayed, as someone “reported” the series to the authorities and so the producer(s) now need to “fix” some stuff before it will be allowed to air (I had read that the number of episodes will be cut down but I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the details to be honest).  So ATV is basically in a holding pattern right now, with their execs probably “praying” that the issues will be resolved soon.  

  - What a mess for ATV!  I'm not normally superstitious but man, so many obstacles from the getgo can't be a good thing for a station that is trying to re-brand itself.  Not a good way to start their "re-launch" that's for sure!

TVB

 Of course there will be mention about TVB in a recap about entertainment news happenings – however one “disclaimer” that I would like to make:  most of you who have followed my blog for awhile and/or my comments in certain discussion forums probably know what my attitude is toward TVB nowadays.  Basically, when it comes to TVB, don’t expect to see the “latest and greatest” in terms of new upcoming series or whatnot because I barely follow that stuff anymore.  Nowadays, I don’t pay much attention to which new series are airing in TVB’s prime time “golden” timeslots since I don’t watch their (new) series much anymore.  If you’re looking for latest info on new series and/or current generation of TVB artists, there are plenty of fansites out there so feel free to check those out instead.

With that said, the 2 things I wanted to mention about TVB this week (note that most of my TVB mentions in these posts are along the lines of “WTH moments” -- basically stuff that I found "laughable"....):

-          So you guys remember that disaster of an anniversary series Heart and Greed (the 3^rd installment to the Heart Of Greed franchise), right?  Those who’ve been following entertainment news the past few weeks probably know that HAG’s ratings in HK sucked (though I heard their finale episode actually ended on a high note) and word of mouth was horrible as well.  Throughout the month or so that the series aired, it was pretty much “bashed” every day for one thing or another by netizens and audiences alike (and no, it’s not a coincidence that the series was completely shut out of the anniversary awards, despite the “high hopes” of the cast and crew going into the awards).  Given the above, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the series was NOT well-received and therefore, the franchise can officially DIE now…

o   Well, um, not quite….it was announced recently that there are plans for BOTH a movie version as well as stage play version of the series (the 3^rd installment specifically).  Not too many details on the movie yet, though I did see a rumor somewhere that Ha Yu might get pegged as the director for the movie version (which makes sense to me, since Ha Yu has his own production company and already directed/produced a few movies the past couple years).  If Ha Yu does end up being the director, the question I’m most interested in is whether his son Dixon Wong will be involved in the production again (as he was in Ha Yu’s previous works) – reason I ask is because Dixon Wong is a ViuTV-contracted artist currently so it will be interesting to see what will happen with that if the movie is still affiliated with TVB. 

o   As for the stage play, TVB already confirmed it’s definitely a go and the veterans – Ha Yu, Louise Lee, Susanna Kwan, etc. -- stated that they have already started planning for it.  Supposedly, the stage play version will be “comedy-heavy”, which I guess means that we will be spared all of those intensely dramatic arguing + crying scenes that were a “staple” of the franchise?  I guess we shall wait and see….

-          Turns out all the backlash that TVB got after the highly contested results of their 50^th Anniversary Awards “paid off” for them, as the ratings report came out last week and this year’s awards garnered 33.6 points (probably the highest ratings for ANY TVB program – series included – in all of 2017), which, according to the media, are the highest ratings the awards has gotten since 2014. 

o   Of course, TVB held a celebratory dinner to commemorate this (in which the behind-the-scenes crew as well as all award winners were in attendance) and the execs took the opportunity to give a bunch of “motivational” speeches.  I won’t repeat the exact content of their speeches (because quite honestly, some of the stuff they said made me want to puke, lol) but just know that, in typical TVB-style, the execs pretty much praised themselves for a job well-done and reiterated once again that the high ratings means that HK audiences still “love” them (yes, bring on the barf bags!!!)

And last but certainly not least….

HKTV

-          After not hearing anything for like 5 months, HKTV was finally “back in the news” last month (January), though depending on which side you’re on, you might be happy or sad at the reason why they are in the news again (personally, I’m both happy and sad, but that’s just me…).

o   As I stated in the comments to one of my recent blog posts, Ricky Wong gave a presentation last month about the launch of his new e-commerce related project (as you may recall from this blog post I wrote up back in August 2017, Ricky Wong sold his stake in HKTV to his partner, so he is no longer the CEO, however he still oversees the HKTVmall side of things).  In a nutshell, Ricky Wong is basically turning HKTV’s multi-million dollar studio in Tseung Kwan O (near where TVB City is located) into a “training ground” for media students with an interest in e-commerce – the students will be able to “rent” HKTV’s facilities and equipment for free to film essentially whatever they want (i.e. supermarket commercials, product promotional videos, etc.).  The purpose is to cultivate potential future business leaders (more specifically in the e-commerce field) while at the same time not letting the facilities go to waste. 

o   Here are links to the 2 articles (from HK01’s Finance/Business section) that has more details on the project: Article 1 and Article 2

o   Like I said elsewhere, from a business perspective, kudos to Ricky Wong for putting in the effort to cultivate a younger generation of potential business leaders – though of course, none of us should be surprised that RW decided to go this route given his background and the fact that he is known for his creativity and being innovative (the phenomenal success of his previous telecom business is proof that he knows what he is doing when it comes business development).  Personally, I feel that this project is a great idea and one that I wish HKTV (more specifically Ricky Wong) the utmost success on.

o   With that said however, the above news, coupled with the fact that Ricky Wong’s HKTVmall e-commerce business is doing extremely well (there is an article that actually had some impressive numbers in it but I didn’t post it because it’s buried in my list somewhere – if I’m able to dig it out anytime soon, I’ll try to at least post up the link to it) – means that for those of us who were looking forward to HKTV resuming production of their series (something that RW had promised would happen if their 2^nd application for a license is approved), the prospect of this happening has gotten a lot dimmer.   The longer the government continues to drag their feet with the second round of applications (it’s been like what, 3 years already since HKTV’s 2^nd application was submitted?), the likelihood of HKTV resuming filming gets dimmer and dimmer.  Personally, I don’t want to go into my spiel about whether I think it’s a good idea for HKTV to resume production or not, since that topic would take up a full post in and of itself, plus I think I already talked about it previously in my blog….but fellow HKTV supporters definitely feel free to express your thoughts on this in the comments below if you want.

That’s it for now, but note that since this is the first post in this particular series and I’m technically a little behind with it (most of the above news was from mid-to late January, some even from December), I will probably be doing another post in a couple of days to “catch up” with this past week’s news.  After that, the plan is to do these posts probably weekly (maybe bi-weekly depending on my schedule) with more current news.

Enjoy! :-)

**UPDATED** HK Television Wars Update: ATV making a comeback!

**12/24/17 Hot off the press update -- Soooo.....things are starting out on the wrong foot already.  Turns out that ATV won't be able to remake MDWAV because the rights to that series (along with a bunch of other popular ATV classics) was sold to Fox Networks.  Fox released a statement today (yesterday) stating that they hold the rights to MDWAV and ATV would be infringing on copyright if they were to remake the series without Fox's consent.  ATV's CEO Ng Yu was asked about this today and he said that it is true that most of ATV's series were indeed already sold to other companies (including TVB, Fox, HMV, Sohu, etc.) and that it was a misunderstanding on their part, as the records are really messy and they are still going through them.  He said that they are in discussions with Fox right now on possible collaboration with the remake but if that doesn't pan out, they have other series they can look at remaking instead.

What a mess!  I mean, how could ATV not know that the rights to the series was already sold to Fox?  And then to announce plans for a remake as though ATV still owned the rights?  This definitely doesn't look good for ATV, especially with their already previously tarnished reputation....

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Ok, so seeing that I haven't updated HK television-related stuff in awhile and we're coming up on the end of the year, I figured it was time for a mini "recap" of some of the major things going on in the HK television industry as of late.  This will be a quick, relatively short post (yea, I know, departure from my normal "War and Peace" style, but hey, I'm busy and in a crunch for time this month).

I don't plan on talking about all the TV stations, as I don't really have time for that right now (maybe I'll do a year-end recap later – we'll see), so I'll just focus on one major "hot off the press" HK television news for now.

The big news this weekend was ATV announcing their official comeback.  No, they didn't get their license back.  Rather, they are returning as an internet TV station where their programs will be available to watch via mobile platform (phone and tablet app) as well as via OTT (Over-the-Top) TV set boxes.  The new owner is a Mainland businessman with (supposedly) boatloads of money and he has hired quite a few big name industry veterans to head the station, including former TVB (and EEG) director of operations Ng Yu (he will be CEO), former TVB top exec/manager Peter Au, retired former TVB director of promotion and marketing Tsang Sing Ming, and former TVB (and subsequently NowTV) head of variety shows production Ho Lai Chuen (who is supposedly serving in the capacity of "consultant").  Also, they have a new logo now and I believe their official name is called "New Asia TV"….

In terms of artists, Ng Yu announced that everyone signed a "per series/show" contract only and are essentially free artists who can work for whichever station they so choose.  They will not be doing artist management in the beginning – instead, they intend on cultivating newcomers by having them work with experienced artists, then they will pick out the ones who are good and sign them to long term contracts (interesting strategy).  There were boatloads of former ATV and TVB artists who attended the official press conference this weekend (note that the official re-launch date isn't until January 29^th – they are just making all the announcements 1 month early), most notably Stephen Chan, Margie Tsang, Wong Hei, Spencer Leung, Joyce Chan, Anne Heung, Queenie Chu, Cillia Lok, Jacqueline Chu, ATV veteran Lau Shek Yin, etc.  Supposedly these artists are only a few of the over 100 artists + behind-the-scenes crew that ATV currently has working for them. 

Programming-wise, the biggest highlights are Stephen Chan hosting the 2018 version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" – of course, he's got pretty big shoes to fill considering how popular that game show was back when Kenneth Chan hosted the Chinese version on ATV many years ago (and no, I highly doubt Stephen Chan will be able to invite the "A-list" guests that Kenneth was able to back in the days when he hosted).  The other big highlight (on the variety show side) is that they will have a live variety program that will air every night Monday thru Friday – the show is called "See You Tonight" (and yes, the similar-sounding name to TVB's iconic live variety show EYT is probably deliberate) and will consist of one episode a night with a different theme each night hosted by different artists.  Spencer Leung, Joyce Chan, and veteran radio host Sarah Lee will host the Monday entertainment news-themed edition (Spencer said that for the first episode, he will be inviting 2 of his "enemies" whom he hasn't seen in a long time on to the show to have dinner with him – he also said he can't guarantee their won't be arguing or fighting so he advised audiences to tune in to see what happens).   Wong Hei and Anne Heung will be hosting Thursday nights, with the theme being travel and food, while Queenie Chu, Cillia Lok, and Margie  Tsang will host Wednesday nights where the theme will be fashion / lifestyle.  Lau Shek Yin will host Tuesday nights with the theme being HK current affairs and societal concerns.  I didn't catch who will be hosting Fridays though – will update once I find out.  

I'm sure the biggest question on people's minds is whether ATV will be filming series.  The answer is yes – the 2 "big productions" they already have in the works is a television version of the iconic HK movie "A Better Tomorrow" (yes, the movie that starred Chow Yun Fat in one of his most famous roles ever, "Mark Gor" – it also famously starred Leslie Cheung and Ti Lung) and also, a remake of ATV's classic hit "My Date with a Vampire" (I was never a MDWAV fan but those of you who are/were, feel free to comment how you feel about this news – good? Bad? Indifferent?).  Cast won't be announced until later, though in terms of MDWAV,  I highly doubt that any of the artists who were involved with the original will be participating in this new remake version.  Also, Ng Yu had done an interview last week (prior to this weekend's press conference) where he pretty much already confirmed that all of their "self-produced" series will be collaborations with Mainland – meaning produced with Mainland money, feature Mainland artists, and overall be geared toward Mainland audiences.

Lastly, the question of the day from reporters during the press conference was whether there would be a repeat of what I like to call "Salarygate" – remember those 4 to 6 months where ATV failed to pay their staff's salaries, resulting in hundreds of ATV staff having to apply to the Labor Department and also take ATV to court to recoup their lost wages.  Ng Yu confirmed that there will absolutely NOT be a repeat of that, as one of the pre-requisites for him agreeing to be CEO (keep in mind that he had retired from EEG last year) was that the owner must put staff salaries first and foremost.  He said the current owner of ATV has tons of properties and business and money is not an issue…in fact, he said that the owner plans on investing 400 million HKD the first year to make sure all relevant and necessary production costs, salaries, expenses, etc. are covered.

*** 

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole ATV thing.  In my book, that station's reputation is so tarnished already that it will essentially take Herculean effort to truly re-establish themselves as a possible force to be reckoned with in HK audience's eyes.  Personally, even after their announcement, I wasn't all that excited about their programs, as there really wasn't much that interested me except for that "See You Tonight" variety program that I might possibly watch, mostly out of curiosity to see whether it will truly be an "original effort" or merely a copycat of EYT (long-time TVB fans will probably remember that Ng Yu is still considered the "father of E.Y.T." and is largely credited with making that show the success it was for so many years, so it's hard for me to believe there won't be 'E.Y.T.' influences in the show).  The 2 series they announced so far I'm definitely not interested in – as I said above, I was never a fan of MDWAV so I could care less that they are doing a remake of it, but I did love the movie "A Better Tomorrow", which is one reason why I don't want to watch the ATV remake version because I know for sure they are going to butcher it (come on now – I don't care who they end up casting, no one is ever going to surpass Chow Yun Fat's iconic performance in that movie!).  With that said though, one thing I will say is that if the powers-that-be at ATV have been paying attention to entertainment news the last couple months, they perhaps would've heard the iconic film's director John Woo recently reveal that actor Mark Cheng was originally slated for the role of 'Mark Gor' but he turned it down due to scheduling conflict, so Chow Yun Fat got picked for the role (CYF was known as "box-office poison" at that time – he was a huge television star, but movie-wise, practically every movie he had made leading up to that movie had bombed).  To me, it would be interesting (and probably a huge talking / selling point for ATV) if they were to cast Mark Cheng in the lead role for the TV version – in a way, giving him a chance to fix a previously "missed opportunity"….but this is just me putting in my two cents…I actually have no idea who ATV is going cast in either series.

Concluding thoughts:  Basically, my approach with this ATV comeback thing is "wait and see".  As I said above, I'm not excited for any of their programs or artists.  On the contrary, I'm actually more excited about the internet series from other lesser name (in HK at least) production companies:  namely, OCTB season 2 (which will start filming next month) and also both of Fox Asia's HK series "Trading Floor" and "Stain'd".  The trailers for both series have been out for awhile already and even though both were only a few short seconds, the little I saw already blew TVB series out of the water big-time.   I read in the news that they recently did a special director's cut of "Stain'd" where they edited all 5 episodes into a movie length film and debuted it at the Macau Film Festival, where 2 of the series' stars Kara Hui and Tse Kwan Ho as well as director Patrick Kong were in attendance (the other lead, Anthony Wong, was not in attendance) – the film version was supposedly quite intense and gory (the story is based on a real life HK murder case – the infamous recent case of a teenager who hatched an intricate plot to kill his parents and dismember their bodies, then blamed the killings on the mentally ill friend who  had assisted him).  With 3 award-winning A-list actors leading the series, no doubt the acting will be top-notch!  "Trading Floor" also I'm excited about, mostly because of the cast (again, award-winning movie actors Francis Ng and Liu Kai Chi), plus the producer is none other than Andy Lau – the "big names" attached to the project and the guaranteed top-notch acting are enough to get me absolutely interested!

NEWS update: ATV to make a comeback in 2018

It has been more than a year since ATV lost their free-to-air TV license and officially closed up shop.  From the moment they closed, there were already rumors that they would “come back” some day – one rumor was that they were going to submit an application for a license again while another was that they were going to “change format” and return in a different capacity.   Up until this point, there was never much merit to the rumors, especially since majority of what was being told to the public was coming from the mouth of ATV’s former chairman Nick Ip Kar Bo (who already proved himself to be a weak puppy through his constant regurgitation of whatever ridiculous assertions that ATV’s higher ups at the time had him relay).  Even up until last week, when Nick Ip attended an event for Creation TV (the Christian television channel that he has officially joined as chairman), he was still talking about the possibility of ATV returning.  While I still don’t give Nick Ip’s words much merit (since he has a bad reputation in my book), there is actually some truth to the rumors this time in that there is now official confirmation that ATV is returning, albeit Nick Ip isn’t really involved.

I had actually read about ATV possibly making a comeback in a few news articles last week, but at the time, didn’t have the details.  Now I have more info so I wanted to get this blog post out there to share it.   The latest issue of Mingpao Weekly magazine (published this past weekend) had an article that spells out some of the details, including an interview with the person who will be the new ATV chairman.

My two cents:  Personally, I’m not sure how well ATV will fare coming back as a web channel given all the competition in this arena as of late (in addition to TVB, who officially entered the web channel arena last year with myTV Super, there’s also ViuTV, which has their own web streaming platform, and also “outsiders” such as Fox Asia and Netflix, plus the plethora of production companies that have been making web series and putting them on various streaming platforms such as Youtube).  To me, if ATV wants to make a successful comeback, the first thing they need to do is change their name….keeping the same name will conjure up memories of the old ATV and with the horribly damaged reputation that station had, it will be harder for HK audiences to accept them without blemish.  For right now, I’m going to take a “wait and see” approach, as there hasn’t been a whole lot revealed yet in terms of artists and also programming / content – both of which we all know are critical to success.  Since the “launch” is tentatively scheduled for some time in January, I’m pretty sure we will hear more details come out in the next two months.

**

Below is the article along with a brief summary of the main points from the original article (note that this is NOT a direct translation – it is basically me pulling out the main points from the article and summarizing them here).

Source:  Mingpao Weekly magazine, Issue #2556

(published November 4, 2017)

Main highlights:

-          ATV will be officially returning to TV screens in January 2018.  They will be returning as a web channel that can be accessed via Internet platform as well as mobile devices (via a specially designed app).  TV audiences can access their channel via a set-top box, but with a paid subscription (which is essentially the exact same OTT – Over the Top – method that TVB’s myTV Super utilizes currently). 

-          The new chairman of ATV will be Ng Yu (吳雨), who retired from his executive-level position at EEG last year.  As most people may already know, Ng Yu also used to be one of the top executives at TVB (back in the 80s and 90s) and has many years of experience in media management, so in a way, he’s the perfect candidate for the job.  Though another company will officially be heading up the venture, they recruited Ng Yu for the role of chairman with the promise that he will be the one who calls all the shots.

-          Aside from Ng Yu, the executive team for this new ATV venture consists mostly of former TVB and EEG people, including:  former TVB Assistant Manager Peter Au (歐偉林), former TVB senior producer Fred Lam (林嘉穎), former EEG artists’ department manager Roger, and also Ng Yu’s long-time secretary Pauline.

-          As of right now, there are already over 100 employees working for this new ATV.  Majority of the employees are former ATV staff (i.e. all the behind-the-scenes people such as makeup artists, costume, PAs, etc.) but due to his connections, Ng Yu was also able to recruit artists and behind-the-scenes staff from both TVB and EEG as well. 

-          Ng Yu stated that they are planning to bring ATV back in its entirety in that they are going to produce TV series (and also purchase series from other countries to air on their channel), variety programs, news programs, and also revive the Miss Asia pageant.  However he said that the Miss Asia pageant this time around will be very different from the past, as he didn’t want all the issues that used to plague the pageant to follow them.

-          Supposedly, Ng Yu is already in talks with a few well-known artists to collaborate with him at this new ATV (most of the names are former ATV artists).  Some of the rumored names include:  Jaclyn Chu (朱慧珊), Eva Lai (黎燕珊), Margie Tsang (曾華倩), Kenneth Chan (陳啟泰).

HK Television Wars update: New ratings system in the coming year!

So, I was catching up on my reading and one of the articles I came across last week talked about how the HK television industry is switching to a completely different, more unified ratings structure at the beginning of next year (January 2018).  I've posted a link to the article below in case anyone wants to read the original Chinese version of it, since I don't plan on translating this particular article word for word like I usually would (mostly because of time constraints, as I've got a few other projects I need to work on).   With that said though, I do recommend that those who are able to read Chinese (more specifically Cantonese, since most of HK01's articles are written in the local HK style and language) should read the article in its entirety, as there are some really good points and perspectives brought up in the article about the television wars that you probably won't find in the mainstream papers.

Instead of translating the whole thing, I decided to sum up / paraphrase only the part about the ratings system, since that's what this post that I'm writing is about:

-          Starting in January of next year (2018), all 3 free-to-air TV stations (TVB, ViuTV, Fantastic TV) will be participating in a newly appointed 3^rd party ratings survey. 

-          For the first time ever, the ratings calculations will take into account viewing data from mobile phones and tablets, which includes "re-watches" of the same program within a 7 day period.

-          The ratings will be divided into 3 categories:  TV Live (traditional TV platform such as Jade channel), OTT Live (Over-the-top streaming platform such as MyTV Super and set-top boxes), and OTT Re-watch (same platform as OTT Live except counting "re-watch" data)

-          Changing to this system will hopefully result in a more fair, more objective, and more uniform comparison of the 3 free-to-air TV stations' ratings and thereby eliminate all the current issues that stem from each station calculating their own ratings.

-          Unfortunately, the government-owned RTHK's TV channel(s) will not be included in this ratings survey

Source:  HK01

Link to original article:

https://www.hk01.com/01博評-藝%EF%BC%8E文化/96544/-蘭花刼vs詭探-博評-TVB之失-ViuTV之得

So here's my two cents:

On the one hand, I feel it's a good thing that all the TV stations in HK will finally be using the same ratings system after decades of each station doing their own thing.  Those who've followed my posts the past few years know that I don't give a rat's you-know-what about ratings (not going to rehash my viewpoint here – if you're interested, check out the other blog posts I've written in the past about the HK ratings system)….especially ratings in the HK television world, which have always had a reputation for being inaccurate and farcical due to each station's "habit" of calculating the ratings in whichever way they so please and then announcing those numbers to the world as though they were fact.  This was an issue even back during the TVB vs ATV days -- I honestly can't tell you how many times I've laughed at the 2 stations' absurdity over the years "arguing" over their ratings numbers, with TVB always beating ATV to the chase in announcing "both" stations' ratings (not sure why TVB was calculating ATV's ratings but they always did even though ATV had their own 3^rd party system that did it for them), followed by ATV always crying a river about TVB "deliberately" misrepresenting their numbers and ATV management insisting that it was "absolutely impossible" for their station to consistently receive only single digit ratings (in the Wong Ching era of ATV, the ratings was just one of the bajillion things that ATV management was constantly "in denial" about).    Sure, now ATV is officially out of the picture, but that hasn't stopped all the "arguments" over the ratings, since there are now two new free-to-air TV stations in town to pick up where ATV left off (in the ratings argument, that is).   Currently, each station still does their own thing when it comes to ratings and there is no consensus whatsoever on whose numbers are truly accurate (though most of HK – media, general population, etc. -- goes with TVB's ratings calculations because, hey, they are the biggest and longest running TV station in HK now that ATV is gone, plus they monopolize the TV industry anyway, so how dare anyone NOT use their ratings?  Yeah, whatever…)

The other side of the coin of course is that this whole ratings system change is "too little, too late".  Yes, it makes sense to incorporate the viewing numbers from other platforms given that's how majority of audiences watch TV nowadays and yes, it's a more accurate representation – I absolutely agree with this.  However, the part I'm irked about is that the HK television industry should have made this change 5 to 10 years ago instead of waiting until now to do it.  Honestly, what difference does it make now to have a more "accurate" set of ratings all coming from the same source?  Does anyone really care?  TVB certainly doesn't, since, in their eyes, they will always be "ratings king" and no one will ever be able to surpass them, no matter how hard they try….which of course makes it not surprising at all that TVB has chosen to essentially "give up on" the HK market and instead focus its sights on the Mainland.  This brings me to the crux of my sentiment on why changing the ratings system is "too little, too late":  Not sure how many people heard the news that came out a few days ago about TVB choosing to air Unlawful Justice Squad in Mainland China before airing in HK, which is being viewed as yet another indication of TVB not giving a crap about HK audiences (like all the backlash they’ve been getting the past few weeks about the decision to air Phoenix Rising in their golden timeslot is not enough).   I guess getting hundreds of thousands of “hits” for their series on the internet from Mainland audiences is more important than the “measly” tens of thousands of HK audiences who actually have to go through the trouble of turning on the TV set…

Of course, it can be argued that the other 2 free-to-air TV stations – ViuTV and the just-launched Fantastic Television – do care about the ratings so changing the system will benefit them.  Um, not really…we all know that both stations are way too new and there is no way for them to catch up to TVB anytime soon where ratings are concerned.  Maybe 10 years down the road (if either station lasts that long), they might have a chance of "breaking even" with TVB, but by that time, it truly won't matter anymore because TVB will likely have given up the HK market completely by then, plus who knows if there will even be any more HK audiences around to be a part of the ratings count?  As this article very aptly stated, the "trend" in HK when it comes to majority free-TV audience viewing habits is to either turn on the TV to watch TVB, or turn off the TV and watch nothing at all.  If TVB's programs suck (which has been mostly the case for the past decade at least), most audiences in HK don't automatically turn to other free-TV channels even if the alternative exists – it has been this way for decades and, as the saying goes, it's hard to break old habits.  Yea, I know it's weird and probably hard for people who didn't grow up with the HK television industry to accept, but it's very much a reality – watching TVB has become a "way of life" for most HK folks and unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, this is never going to change unless the day comes when TVB no longer exists….so basically any talk about ratings is pointless and meaningless.

HK Television Wars -- more updates

I wanted to do a quick follow up to my post from last month about the state of the HK television industry as of late, as there were some new developments this week that have the potential to change the landscape of the television industry going into the second half of the year.

1)      The fate of i-Cable:  I had mentioned in the previous post about i-Cable giving back their broadcast spectrum to the government and questioned why they would do that if they still plan on operating.  Well, my question has been answered now, as last week, i-Cable's parent company Wharf Holdings announced that they will be backing out from the media business and will no longer be providing funding to i-Cable.  This decision stemmed primarily from the billions of dollars in losses that the pay TV arm of i-Cable racked up, plus the decline in ad revenue, which has made the pay TV market unsustainable (note that TVB also shut down their pay TV division last year and returned their pay license to the government, so obviously there are issues all around on the pay TV front).  The fate of i-Cable is up in the air at the moment, as they are hiring a financial advisor and going through their current cash reserves to see how much money they have right now and whether that is enough to keep the station running.  No one is willing to commit to anything publicly at the moment, but based on all the facts and numbers, the prognosis looks bleak.  Basically, there is a 99.9%  chance that i-Cable is going to give its pay TV license back to the government, but whether the company will have to shut down completely or not remains to be seen.

Of course, I'm sure you've figured out by now that this is going to impact the free-to-air TV license that i-Cable received last year.  Though their free TV arm Fantastic Television is scheduled to launch in May, there is now talk that it might or might not happen anymore.  Based on all the reports that have come out, everything will depend on what happens once the financial advisor goes through numbers and also whether they will be able to find a new financial backer willing to invest in them, as i-Cable needs to figure out whether they will have enough funds to fulfill the terms of the license (which requires them to commit to investing X amount of dollars for X number of years to maintain programming content).  If getting rid of the pay TV arm means that they can take all those funds and throw them into the free TV arm, then they might still be able to keep things going…however it doesn't look likely given that the company is already millions of dollars in the hole due to all the losses.  For me, this statement from i-Cable's chairman and chief executive Stephen Ng (as quoted from this SCMP article) says it all:  "We have three [broadcast] licenses, including the new one to be awarded by the government.  We are now considering whether or not to accept the new license and how to deal with the existing licenses."

2)      Forever Top consortium – coincidentally, David Chiu held a press conference a couple days ago and confirmed that the "restructuring" of their company is complete now so they have reinstated their application for a free-to-air license.  From what I understand based on what was stated in the press con (need to wait for the official reports to come out for actual terminology), the restructuring that took place was basically the consortium replacing their primary investor from a Mainland company to one that is based in Hong Kong.  The reason for this is because of the stipulation in the free TV license rules that foreign investors are not allowed to involve themselves in the day to day operations of the free-to-air TV station in any capacity whatsoever.  Sounds like David Chiu was playing it safe and didn't want this to affect his chances for a license, which in a way, is a smart move given what happened to ATV and what ultimately led that station to shut down after 59 years of existence (I'm sure no one needs to be reminded of the damage that Mainland investor Wong Ching did to ATV).  So basically, Forever Top is back in the game now and has confidently expressed that they are pretty sure about their chances for being granted a free-to-air TV license.  David Chiu also said that he expects the government to make a decision "very soon."  

Hmmm….ok, well, the "mystery" over Forever Top's sudden suspension of their license application has been solved now but I'm honestly not sure whether I should feel good about this or not.  I'm still not convinced that Forever Top will have a positive impact on the HK television market and to me, I don't see a difference between them and all the other media companies that are now trying to infiltrate the Asian entertainment market (more on this later).  I remember David Chiu saying back when he first submitted his application that if the government did not make a decision on the licenses within 6 months (or was it 3 months?  Can't remember the actual timeframe off the top of my head), he would rescind his application, as he does not have time to wait several years and will put his resources elsewhere instead.  This was what, like 3 years ago?  And obviously the government still has not made their decision yet.  So then David Chiu changed his mind and decided he DOES have time to wait after all?  Or was that "threat" his way of trying to strong arm the government into giving him a license?  By now, I'm pretty sure you guys understand why I don't feel good about this company (David Chiu and his consortium) at all.

3)       Last but not least – TVB.  I don't have a whole lot more to add from what I wrote in my previous post other than a "warning" to TVB that they better step up their game – and sooner rather than later.  Here's why:

-          ViuTV announced last week that they will be revamping their business model and have been given the green light (by their top execs) to invest in the production of more TV series.  So instead of focusing on reality-based variety shows (which is what they've been doing this past year since launching in April 2016) and only churning out 1 or 2 original series every couple months,  they will now be producing their own series on a consistent basis and airing them nightly (versus once or twice a week like they did previously).  I personally feel that ViuTV's "Margaret and David" series from last year showed a lot of potential (and this year they are upping the ante by inviting HK movie veterans Anthony Wong and Patricia Ha to film the next installment in the series), so it's still possible for ViuTV to give TVB a run for their money in the TV series department (though it's very obvious that the target audience is different for both stations, as ViuTV is trying to pull in younger generation audiences while TVB is still catering to housewives for the most part).

-          Fox Asia (the international arm of U.S. media giant Fox Network) already announced plans to film their first Cantonese language television drama.  It will be a crime thriller that is based on true life events and will star award-winning HK movie veterans Anthony Wong (man, Anthony sure is busy lately, lol), Kara Hui, Tse Kwan Ho (all 3 are HKFA and/or Golden Horse Best Actor and Actress winners).  Fox will be doing a separate press conference to announce further details but rumor has it that they intend on working primarily with HK movie stars on their drama series so there is a possibility that we may see more HK movie industry A-listers returning to the small screen in the near future.

-          Netflix, which launched in HK last year, has been working on strengthening up its programming as well as its presence in the city.  They haven't made any formal announcements yet but industry insiders predict that they will likely make a move soon.  If Netflix does decide to produce their own original Chinese-language series, no doubt that it will turn up the heat on the competition given their track record of already producing hit TV series in other countries.  Also, they've already bought broadcasting rights to a bunch of popular Korean and Japanese TV series, which they plan on airing on their HK channel.

-          I just read an article this weekend that said HBO is also gearing up to get a piece of the action as well.  I actually didn't know this but turns out that last year, HBO had collaborated with a Chinese production crew (that consisted of a famous Mainland China director and HK stunt choreographer) to film and release 2 Chinese language TV movies.  In addition, they also collaborated with one of Taiwan's top TV stations on a series starring Taiwanese singer-actress Guo Shu Yao.  While it looks like HBO's target isn't necessarily the HK television market (at least not right now), it's pretty obvious that they are trying to establish their footprint in Asia and with HK's history of being one of Asia's premiere entertainment hubs (hey, HK didn't get its nickname "Hollywood of the East" for nothing), the likelihood of that "reach" expanding to HK in the future is pretty huge if you ask me.

HK Television Wars – Latest updates

It has been a long time since I’ve written about the ongoing “war” between TVB and the HK television industry.  Personally, I haven’t really been following TVB news as closely anymore (though of course I haven’t abandoned them completely – kind of hard to after following them for 30 years), but I’ve continued to keep tabs on the HK entertainment industry in general, especially as it pertains to my favorite artists or entertainers I grew up watching.  And yes, I’m also still keeping tabs on the HK television wars (aka the free-to-air licensing issue) to some extent (time permitting of course).

Here’s an update on a few things that have been going on recently impacting the HK television industry and TVB (note that this is NOT all-inclusive of everything that has been going on in the industry lately…I only cover a few things that come to mind):

1)      i-Cable’s free TV arm Fantastic Television finally received their license in hand last year and a few months ago, they held a press conference announcing that they are planning a launch date of May 2017.  As with their usual style, i-Cable’s management team has been super-secretive about their programming content, though what is known so far is that their business model will be very similar to ViuTV (NowTV’s free TV arm, which launched last year) in that their focus will be on variety programs and purchased content rather than self-produced TV series.

To be honest, I don’t get these companies’ mentality.  It doesn’t sound like they are serious at all about competing with TVB.  Everyone and their mothers know how “obsessed” HK audiences are with television series and currently TVB is pretty much the ONLY option when it comes to TV series production.  Doesn’t it make sense then that if you’re planning to launch a new TV station, your first priority should be to produce high quality television series that will  give you a decent chance of pulling in the ratings and audience share long-held by TVB?  I would surely think so!  Yet, both of the TV stations that were granted free-to-air television licenses 4 years ago (gosh, time sure does fly!) have chosen to go the complete opposite direction.  When ViuTV launched last year, they even stated publicly that they are “not  trying to capture TVB’s core audience” but rather, are focusing on those audiences who have abandoned TVB already, with the goal of producing content that will bring these audiences back to watching HK television.  Um, ok….sure, ViuTV, that’s a lofty goal and we appreciate the idea of wanting to bring HK audiences back but don’t you guys think that’s an unrealistic goal given the current environment in HK?  Besides, do you guys truly think that HK audiences who have abandoned TVB are now all of a sudden going to come scrambling back to watch variety programs, reality shows, and Cantonese-dubbed Korean series?  Did the ATV lesson of “how not to run a TV station in HK” teach you guys anything???  Apparently NOT…..

Anyway, back to the subject of i-Cable (aka Fantastic Television) launching soon.  According to recent reports (like literally from yesterday’s newspapers), Fantastic Television – which had put in an application to the Communications Authority last year (June 2016) to grant them some of the over-the-air broadcasting spectrum that ATV had to give back to the government after they closed last year – has now decided to put the broadcast spectrum talks on hold.  The Communications Authority is perplexed at this decision (and rightfully so) because Fantastic  Television won’t be able to broadcast in a free-to-air environment without establishing a terrestrial network, which is what the spectrum does (don’t ask me to explain the details cuz I’m not scientific so not 100% sure how it works).  Basically, without the spectrum, the station would need to purchase transmitters and a bunch of other equipment in order to transmit their signals in the free-to-air capacity, which would mean huge investment on their side.  Frankly, I’m scratching my head on this one as well – I mean, I highly doubt i-Cable has their own broadcast spectrum like HKTV does (which is the reason why Ricky Wong didn’t bother applying for ATV’s broadcast spectrum back when they gave it back to the government last year).  Something doesn’t sound right with this whole thing (the media outlets are actually calling this “a blow to HK’s free-to-air television market”), though who knows what the real story is behind the scenes.  I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in 3 months when the station officially launches.

2)      On the free-to-air license application front, the “big” (albeit “old”) news is that Forever Top (the consortium led by David Chiu – the son of former ATV owner Deacon Chiu – and Pansy Ho) decided to “suspend” their application for a free-to-air license in September of last year.  Their explain was that they need to “reorganize their corporate structure” before deciding whether to resume the application process.  Not really sure what that means, but putting my business hat on, I’m going to make an educated guess that there was either a major change in their executive ranks (i.e. maybe David and Pansy’s companies decided to part ways?) or there was some type of merger / acquisition (or something of that sort)….whatever the case may be, there is guaranteed to be a financial impact in one way or another, which is most likely the “real” reason why they are suspending their application.

So with Forever Top suspending their application, that leaves HKTV as the only other candidate out there with their second application for a license still pending.  I’m pretty sure Ricky Wong is banking on the fact that the new Chief Executive (we will know who it will be soon enough) coming in will be “nicer” to him than CY Leung was and perhaps give him the license that he has been trying to get (anyone want to bet that RW is hoping and praying that John Tsang becomes CE, since he has an amicable relationship with RW and HKTV?).  To be honest though, when it comes to government and politics, there is no such thing as “playing nice” or “playing fair”….doesn’t matter that the former Finance Commissioner was “supportive” of HKTV in the past – once he gets to the CE spot (if he makes it that is), he will need to abide by a different set of rules.  Personally, I don’t think HKTV will ever get their license (and this coming from a huge HKTV supporter) – the political environment in HK right now is toxic and tensions in society are at its highest levels.  With all the issues in the city right now (some of them “life and death” issues), I’m sure that deciding whether to grant new free-to-air TV licenses is low priority.  Besides, if the government decides to deny HKTV for a second time, I’m fairly certain that Ricky Wong and HKTV won’t get the type of mass audience support they got back in 2013 after the first license denial.  I could come up with many reasons to support why but will only cover a few here:  one – a lot has changed in the past 4 years and there are more pressing issues for Hong Kongers to worry about now; second – with ATV gone and ViuTV flopping, most HK television audiences are already resigned to the fact that they will be forever chained to TVB and if they don’t like it, then they can look outside of the city (i.e. China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, etc.) for entertainment options that fit their needs, since the local alternatives (non-TVB fare) aren’t appealing.  Besides, after seeing how poorly ViuTV is performing, it’s understandable that audiences don’t have confidence that other stations coming in will do any better.  The bottom line is that the “momentum” is not there anymore – HKTV’s best chance of getting a license was in 2013 and maybe 2014 when their series were airing and everything was still “fresh” with audiences…now that 3 years have gone by (and who knows how much longer it will be until the government decides to pick up the license issue again), HKTV has already been largely forgotten.  I hate to say it, but as much as I still support HKTV, I’m not oblivious to the reality of the situation.

3)      In terms of TVB – well, let’s just say that they’ve (supposedly) got challenges of their own to deal with.  Aside from being fined left and right by the Communications Authority for repeatedly violating rules governing product placement and indirect advertising on their programs (which TVB has been fighting the CA tooth and nail), TVB has been trying to fend off unsolicited offers to buy their company.  Just 2 days ago, there was a little known Mainland production company that offered to buy 30% stake in TVB – this while internally, the station’s current biggest shareholder Young Lion Holdings, led by Mainland investor Li Ruigang, just launched a share buyback program that will give themselves an even stronger hold on TVB. 

In addition, TVB decided to return their pay TV license back to the government last month, citing that they’ve been losing money on pay TV service for years now and it is no longer sustainable to be in that market.  They’re also claiming that their 2016 net profit will be down significantly (they are saying it will be down by as much as 55% to 65%) due to declining advertising revenue.  The numbers aren’t out yet so there’s no way to know whether TVB is exaggerating or not, but as a point of reference, from 2014 to 2015, TVB’s net profit went down by 6% (they went from net profit of HK$1.41 billion in 2014 to HK$1.33 billion in 2015).  Ok, I will be the first to admit that I haven’t the slightest clue how much it costs to run a TV station, but um, with the economy the way it is right now, being able to still turn over a profit in the billions of dollars is damn good if you ask me!  Sure, TVB is “making less” than what they made the year before, but it’s not like they are really losing money or operating “in the red” like ATV was doing.  Honestly, TVB should quit their whining over declining ad revenue (and all the other stuff they’ve been complaining about such as audiences’ viewing habits changing to watching series online rather than on the TV) and instead put that energy into producing better programs.  Their reputation has been in the toilet for more than a decade now and things are only going to get worse with more and more entertainment options cropping up globally.  But I guess that’s too much to ask of a company that already has an unchallenged monopoly on the HK television industry….