Giving Credit Where Credit is Due......

I’m sure when you first read the title of this post, you were probably wondering what this post would be about and who in particular I felt the need to ‘give credit’ to.  The answer:  TVB!   Ok, before anyone has a conniption, let me explain why I felt the need to give some rare praise to TVB….

Everyone knows that when it comes to TVB, I have no problems dishing out the criticisms (they actually bring it on themselves to be quite honest, though I’ll save that discussion for a different occasion).  At the same time though, I consider myself a fair person who also has no problems giving credit where it is deservedly due….so when TVB has those rare moments where their management actually decide to pull their heads out of their butts (keyword here is “rare”) and do something right for a change, I feel it’s only fair to call it out.

One thing that TVB did recently that I’m actually happy about is that they FINALLY came through on their promise to open up their online TV series platform to overseas viewers (meaning viewers who reside outside of HK).  Before I explain further, let me give a little bit of background:

When TVB established their GOTV site several years ago (that was their TV series repository that housed all of their series ever produced, from the 1970s to present), I was thrilled because it meant that audiences would finally have access to TVB’s classic series from the old days (most of which were/are 110% better than the crap TVB churns out nowadays).  But of course, typical TVB, they decided to restrict GOTV to HK region only, which meant that overseas audiences would not be able to watch (and to add insult to injury, they made it subscription-based where you had to pay a monthly fee – and if that weren’t enough, they restricted it further to only accepting credit cards from 2 very region-specific banks).  The worse thing though was that they decided to limit to HK region, but did very little promotion for GOTV (raise your hand if you heard of GOTV – whenever I would bring it up in online discussion forums, people seemed to have no clue what I was talking about).  Needless to say, I was pissed at TVB for essentially throwing away the chance to make themselves relevant again (which they could’ve done by opening up their classic series to a new generation of audiences who never even knew of their existence and possibly recapturing some of that past glory from TVB’s golden years).  From day one since GOTV launched, TVB had been promising to extend the platform to overseas viewers – however 2 years passed and still it was only restricted to a very limited number of HK viewers.

Earlier this year, when TVB decided to launch myTV Super, which was basically a more robust version of their myTV online platform, with the difference being that it would be OTT-based but still extend across multiple platforms (i.e. mobile devices, internet, etc.), they announced at the same time that they would be discontinuing GOTV and perhaps merge it with myTV in the future.  Of course I was pissed, since I was waiting for them to open up GOTV to overseas viewers but instead they decide to discontinue it (at that time, all indication was that myTV Super would follow its predecessor myTV’s footsteps and continue to be restricted to HK region only).

Well, it turns out that as part of TVB’s myTV Super project, they also decided to put more focus on their ‘international’ arm, which for us here in the U.S. would be their TVB USA division (which, to be honest, has always been a way better division than TVB HK itself – I’ve interacted with TVB USA numerous times and can say from personal experience that their customer service is quite good).  Several months ago, TVB USA revamped their mobile viewing app (which was kind of crappy if you ask me – I for one had difficulty getting their app to work properly) and TVB as a whole launched the “TVB Anywhere” platform, which in theory allows audiences to watch TVB programs ‘anywhere’ in the world (now you guys know why TVB cracked down so hard on that illegal TVpad thingie, which made headlines all over the place).  Of course, the ‘anywhere in the world’ hasn’t quite happened yet, but frankly, I’m really not that concerned about the ‘world’ part as long as the U.S. part works, since that’s where I reside, lol.

I had some time recently to check out “TVB Anywhere” and was pleasantly surprised to find that, in addition to providing access to TVB’s currently airing series (which I really don’t give a hoot about), TVB also uploaded many of their ‘older’ series from the past 49 years on the site as well!  Of course, it’s not as comprehensive as GOTV, since they only upload several dozen series at a time and there is a mix of old and new (versus GOTV where it was ALL their series, conveniently separated out by year and you could do various searches by pretty much any category / theme / genre / artist, etc. that you wanted) – but hey, I’ll take it!  For the first time in TVB’s 49 year history, they are actually allowing ALL audiences (basically anyone who has access to Internet) to watch their series online, LEGALLY and FOR FREE!   I actually tested it out and it works like a charm – just go to the designated website, click on the “TV series” tab, choose the series you want to watch, and that’s it (I re-watched a few older dramas on there already – ones that I’ve watched/re-watched so many times already that I practically have the dialogue memorized -- and can tell you that they are the EXACT same versions as the old videotape versions, which means that they didn’t cut out anything…yay!).  I am currently re-watching Blood of Good and Evil from back in 1990 (one of my all-time favorite TVB series) for like the 50^th time (I’ve seen that series so many times over the years, I’ve lost count already) via TVB Anywhere and am enjoying EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of it!!

Ok, now that I’ve given proper credit for a job well done in one particular area, I have to say this:  For the record, this does NOT mean that I am changing course or anything – I am and will continue to be highly critical of TVB and will continue to slam their management for the horrible way they operate.  So yes, consider this praise short-lived, since I don’t have much confidence that TVB is going to do much else that is praiseworthy (especially judging from their usual pattern of taking 10 steps back for every 1 step forward).

Due to time constraints (obviously, since I’m posting this at 1am in the morning), I’m not going to go into too much detail about how to access TVB Anywhere right now.  However, if you would like more details, feel free to leave a comment and I can walk you through it at the next available opportunity I have.

Talk to you all later! 

The Menu -- movie version

Long time no see, everyone!

I’ve been super-busy lately with work (and life in general) so have kind of neglected (albeit unwillingly) this blog the past few months.  Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough time in the day to keep up with everything that goes on, which is a fact that I hate to admit but have slowly started to come to terms with in recent weeks.  Because of this, I would like to take the opportunity to thank those of you who continue to follow my blog and continue to give me words of encouragement, despite the horrible job I’ve been doing with maintaining this blog.  I definitely appreciate the support and will try as hard as I can to carve out more time to update this blog whenever possible!

Ok, so with that out of the way…..

I’ve been meaning to post up something about this topic for months, but just never got around to it.  A few months back, I had written a post about the HK movies that I wanted to watch this year.  I’m sure those who have been following my blog for a while or have been following my posts in other forums probably noticed that there was one particular movie noticeably absent from my list (which was a small list to begin with, lol) – the movie version of The Menu (HKTV’s popular TV series that is also one of my favorite HK television series of all time).  At the time I wrote that particular post, the exclusion of The Menu from the list was actually deliberate on my part, as the movie was still in its filming stages and not a whole lot of information had been revealed about it yet so I didn’t want to put it on my “want to watch” list and regret it later – plus I’m not the type who will automatically like something by default of association without doing some research on it first (which means that just because I liked the TV series doesn’t necessarily mean I want to watch the movie version of the series – sometimes, it’s better not to watch so as not to be disappointed). 

Well, now that the movie has already premiered in theaters (it officially debuted in HK and Macau on 8/4) and everything from plot to characters to behind-the-scenes stuff is out in the open, I can safely say that I definitely WANT TO WATCH the movie version.  I’ve actually been having quite a few lengthy discussions about the movie with fellow The Menu fans over the past couple months and even though I still have reservations on the movie itself compared to the series and some unresolved questions on how certain things are going to turn out, I have more confidence now (based on all the stuff I’ve read/heard/watched related to the movie) that I likely won’t have as negative a reaction to this movie as I’ve had toward every other “movie version of TV series” out there (almost all of which I essentially hated…it got to the point where I was starting to wonder which was worse – doing a sequel to a popular TV series or filming a movie version to it…I came to the conclusion that both options are equally bad…).  Ok, fine, I admit that my aversion to most of the previous ‘TV series to movie’ adaptations was partly because the movie versions were either produced by TVB (i.e. their movie arm Shaw Brothers) or those involved with the movie had nothing to do with the series originally so it was a completely different interpretation.  With The Menu, neither ‘aversion factor’ exists – no TVB involvement since the original series was not a TVB production (thank God!!!) and almost everyone involved with the production of the movie behind-the-scenes (scriptwriter, producer, director, music director, even other crew such as makeup and hairstylists) was also involved with the series when it was filmed 4 years ago.

I haven’t had time to go look up box office revenue for the movie yet, but in terms of word of mouth -- in the 8 days that The Menu has been in theaters, the response to the movie has been overwhelming and so far, all the reviews have been positive (granted, most of the reviews I’ve read/seen were from regular movie-goers who hadn’t watched the TV series so they went into it without set expectations and without a comparison point).  I have yet to talk to any of my fellow The Menu fans who’ve actually seen the movie (as I said earlier, been sort of in a bubble the last 2 weeks due to busy work and personal life), so not sure what their opinion is yet but I’m definitely looking forward to the discussions and am interested in seeing whether our earlier opinions of the movie still stand.

Anyway, when I get the chance later, I do hope to do a recap of some of the discussions we’ve had so far about the movie and maybe even a review after I watch the movie.  For now though, here is the final trailer for the movie that was released in late July.  Enjoy!

Final Trailer: The Menu

My 'TVB Rant' #28: Wow, just....WOW: TVB's bullying taken to new heights.....

TVB did something this past week that I'm so pissed about, I have to write about it to vent my frustration (as if I haven't written about it enough already in various discussion forums and such, lol).

Anyway, the big entertainment news from this weekend was the huge fallout (second one in less than a decade) between record company Universal and TVB over copyright terms for using Universal artists' songs on TVB programs feature on their Internet channels (i.e. myTV, myTV Super, TVB.com).   The way it works is that the record companies give TVB contracted rights to use their artists' music/songs for a period of 3 years and after that, the contract gets renewed if both parties agree on the terms.  Well, TVB's latest contract with Universal expired on 5/1/16 so both parties got together to discuss contract renewal as they've been doing for the past few decades.  TVB sent Herman Ho - the head of their own music label Voice Entertainment - to discuss contract terms with Universal's higher ups (I'll explain in a minute why I have a problem with this arrangement in the first place) and departing from usual terms, this time around, TVB put in a requirement that is at the same time ridiculous and impossible to fulfill.  TVB basically requested that Universal sign over the exclusive rights to use their artists' songs FOREVER (yes, you read it right - the word used was FOREVER!) - which meant that TVB could continue to use Universal copyrighted songs in any program they feature on their Internet portals even after the contract terms are up without having to worry about getting copyright approval (which implies that they don't have to pay Universal royalty fees) and also that Universal can't allow other stations to use those songs.   Universal of course said HELL NO (kudos to them!!!) and decided to not renew their contract with TVB (lol...the Universal execs reacted quite professionally - if it were me, I would've told Herman Ho to go to hell!)  Based on the contract terms, TVB has 3 years from expiration date (so 4/30/2019) to either remove all Universal copyrighted songs from their Internet programs (which of course would be a lot of work) or take down the affected programs from their Internet portals entirely (note that these terms don't apply to programs aired on TVB's regular free-to-air channel).  So basically, TVB was once again trying to be the arrogant bully that they are but this time, it backfired on them because Universal refused to bend to them.

I don't think any of us need to be rocket scientists to understand what type of impact this is going to have on the HK television and music industries.  Herman Ho claims that TVB still 'welcomes' all Universal artists to participate in their programs provided their appearance doesn't violate contract terms (meaning there is no singing / music involved), however knowing TVB's track record, that is pretty much lip service, as we all know that TVB is petty and will now be 'banning' Universal artists just like they did during the royalty dispute 7-8 years ago.  Besides, who the hell gave Herman Ho the right to speak for TVB as a whole when he's only the head of their record label?  Oh, that's right - his wife is Sandy Yu, who, on paper, is only the head of the variety programs department (and is at the same level as Catherine Tsang, who is head of the drama department), but in reality, she is the actual one 'in power' at TVB now.  Go figure!  The fact that TVB sent Herman Ho to negotiate with a fellow record company is conflict of interest first of all (since both are heads of rival record companies) and it also reeks of insincerity on TVB's part -- if TVB CEO Mark Lee felt it was beneath him to negotiate with a mere record company, then at least send one of the GMs who oversee all production to negotiate with Universal...after all, the outcome of the talks will for sure impact all of TVB's programs, not just music-related ones.  With this arrangement, TVB already started off on the wrong foot (though to be honest, I'm not sure whether this was a deliberate move on TVB's part to "pay back" Universal for opposing them so many times over the past few years or the current execs over at TVB are just dumbaxxxs who have no clue what they are doing....I personally think it might be a combination of both).  The reason I threw that 'pay back' thing in there is because Universal's execs said that they've had the same contract with TVB for decades and the discussions have always gone smoothly, but this time around, TVB dropped that "forever" clause on them out of nowhere, which is what caused the discussion to go sour (why the sudden change in terms, TVB???)

The latest 'development' in this absurd saga is that as of yesterday, TVB (um, actually Herman Ho - but I guess he represents all of TVB now) was "crying a river" to reporters, claiming that Universal was the one being "unreasonable" by forcing TVB to take down/remove Universal copyrighted content within 3 years.  How INSANE is that????  TVB is the one who started the dispute by putting forth a RIDICULOUS to the max requirement that NO ONE in their right minds would agree to - now when Universal says NO and proceeds with terminating the contract as per terms, TVB is trying to make themselves look like the victim by shifting the blame on the record company instead?  WTF?  Oh, but it gets better....in the same "crying a river" interview, Herman Ho goes on to contradict himself by saying that the 'impact' of this dispute to TVB won't be much at all, as 'only a handful of programs will be affected' (yeah, right!!!!).  Um, if only 'a handful of programs' is being affected, why the bloody hell is TVB (via Herman Ho) trying to shift the blame to Universal?  Herman Ho is actually outright lying, as it's obvious to anyone with a brain that the impact of this is going to be huge, especially since the copyrighted songs date all the way back to the 80s/90s (which includes all the songs under Polygram, which Universal bought out in the 90s).  Even TVB's former GM Stephen Chan said that he hasn't been paying much attention to the details of the issue, but he knows for a fact that if TVB has to remove/take down all copyrighted programs, that will definitely be a huge problem for them.  With Universal being one of the largest international record companies out there with practically half the HK music industry signed to them (including many of the industry's 'biggest names' such as Alan Tam, Jacky Cheung, Hacken Lee, Sandy Lam, George Lam, Eason Chan, Kelly Chan, etc.), it will obviously be TVB's loss if they don't rectify the situation and proceed to 'ban' Universal (as is widely speculated).  Universal definitely does not need TVB, as they have a plethora of other options and platforms to promote their music (including TVB's rival free-to-air station ViuTV - which they already have collaborations with - as well as the cable networks and of course, internet platforms such as Youtube).

To be honest, I am actually a bit surprised that TVB would make such a bonehead, stupid move at such a sensitive point in time when their reputation is already in the toilet, their production quality is at an all-time low, artists and behind-the-scenes people are jumping ship left and right, and their own in-house produced singers (the Voice Entertainment crowd) are being heavily criticized for lacking actual singing skills.  Also, in this day and age, with all the technology and resulting doors that have opened up with Internet platforms, there's no way that TVB doesn't know that the record companies have tons more options than they've ever had in the past to promote their artists' music.  Does TVB really think they are that 'high and mighty' as to demand that the record companies collaborate ONLY with them and forego all other opportunities to make more money?  What record company would be stupid enough to cut off a large part of their revenue source just so they can cater to TVB's ridiculous whims?  (Ok, ok, I know that there ARE some record companies out there who would be willing to do it because they are so pro-TVB...not that I'm going to name names though, lol).  What planet are these TVB execs living on?  Like I said in another forum - either Herman Ho is deliberately trying to sabotage TVB's relationship with other record companies in order to boost his own record label or TVB has gotten to the "arrogant beyond saving" stage where they are stupidly flexing their power to see who will bend to them without giving a crap about the consequences.

Lastly...I don't think it's lost on anyone reading this that there will be one more 'consequence' that none of us HK television fans want to see happen:  the television screen for the next 3 years (and perhaps beyond that) will essentially be 'dominated' by Voice Entertainment singers (argh, please kill me now...) and the JSG awards ceremonies will go back to being "the EEG + Voice Entertainment Music Awards".  TVB just gave me more reason to stop watching their programs!  I swear, TVB is slowly chipping away at the small circle of 'support' that I still have for them - if it weren't for the few artists and behind-the-scenes people I care about still working for TVB, I would've abandoned this station a long time ago.

Words of wisdom to TVB from a long-time 'follower' (me - though of course, not that TVB gives a damn, lol):  Stop testing our patience with the arrogant attitude and pettiness!  Despite the fact that you have let us down time and time again, many of us still continue to 'support' you to some extent because of sentimentality (and other) reasons.   Stop taking advantage of your audiences' goodwill and stop treating everyone like brainless sheep who must adhere to your every beck and call.  Let ATV be a lesson on how NOT to manage a TV station (though looks like it's too late for this one) because if you fall, it will be 100 times worse and the damage will be far-reaching....

Book Review series “Now and Then” (從零開始) -- Revival and Poll

Back in 2010, I started a book review series on a set of 3 book compilations called “Now and Then” (從零開始).  The books are written by veteran Mingpao reporter Wong Lai Ling where she essentially compiles all the interviews she has done with numerous celebrities over the past 3 decades and adds her personal anecdotes to create a semi-biographical first-person account of her experiences with those celebrities.   She covers many aspects of the celebrity’s career as well as personal life, often including her own personal stories and background information on HK entertainment history.  As a means of clarification, Wong Lai Ling is NOT the average unethical entertainment gossip reporter that we see way too many of nowadays -- she was actually a pretty reputable and respected reporter back then and still is even now.  I feel this clarification is important, especially in this day and age when it’s so easy to become jaded with the endless trash and false reports that the gossip rags dish out daily about celebrities big and small.  I don’t want people getting the wrong impression that this is just another one of those gossip rag compilations because it is absolutely NOT!  Granted, some of the stuff mentioned in the books may not be 100% true, since it IS from a reporter’s point of view after all, plus there will undoubtedly be certain biases and perspectives that not everyone will agree with (i.e.:  I had read some Anita Mui fans’ comments that they didn’t like how the segment on Anita talked more about her family than about her career – personally, I didn’t have a problem with it, as I felt the way the author put that segment together actually helped to highlight even more how great of a person Anita was despite having such a horrible family).  At the end of the day, each person’s interpretation and opinion will be different and there really isn’t a right or wrong in my opinion….

I will say that one of the things I appreciate about this book series is the fact that Wong Lai Ling tries, as much as possible, to include all or part of the original interviews that she had done with the celebrities themselves (so readers can hear from those celebrities directly) – she also provides background information on each interview, which helps chronicle each celebrity’s thoughts and feelings during that time and in some cases, even helps to explain why some of them made certain decisions that they did.  It pretty much reads like an extended story, complete with pictures from Mingpao’s photo vault that accompany each chapter in a chronological timeline format.

Another thing I like about this book series as opposed to other entertainment books released in recent years is that its focus (for the most part, with the exception of the 3rd book) is on veteran entertainers from HK’s ‘golden age’ time period, written by a reporter who actually experienced that era and knew these celebrities personally.  In recent years, I’ve seen too many newer reporters who have no knowledge of that era outside of what others have told them -- they try to write about these celebrities and oftentimes, the stuff they put out lacks depth and substance (some of it even amounts to mere ‘hearsay’, since many of those reporters weren’t even born yet when most of these celebrities were most active in the industry).   Having been one of those people who personally experienced that ‘golden era’ of HK entertainment myself, it kind of irks me to read watered-down accounts of that era from people who will never understand how things were truly like back then.  This is why I love reading stuff from veteran reporters such as Wong Lai Ling (as well as her other counterparts at MP such as Tsui Yong Yong, Charles Chak, etc.), as it brings back so many great memories of that era and essentially takes me on a fantastic journey down memory lane.

There are a total of 3 books in the series and each book focuses on 10 celebrities (for a total of 30 celebrities, though some of the books have ‘bonus’ material that is in addition to the regular content – such as the third and final book of the series where Wong Lai Ling writes a special tribute to Leslie Cheung, whom she had known for over 20 years and was close friends with – she had actually already written about him in the first book, but since the third book was written around the 7th anniversary of his death, she decided to put in a special chapter in honor of him).

I started writing a review series for these books on my blog back in 2010 and got through a handful of celebrities, but then I started getting really busy with life and work, so never got around to continuing the series.  In addition, with the amount of detail in the books and how picky I am about my writing and translations, doing this review series was actually quite draining on me, which is another reason why I haven’t picked it back up the past few years.  With all that said though, I’ve received a tremendous number of inquiries about the series the past couple years, with the interest level peaking especially in the last 2 to 3 years due to the HK entertainment industry reaching such a dismal state and more and more people jumping onto the nostalgia bandwagon (which, of course, I don’t blame them for since there truly is nothing much worth ‘following’ nowadays in the HK entertainment industry). 

Because of the above, I feel that I owe it to the dedicated readers and followers of my blog to revive this review series again.  However, instead of continuing where I left off 5 years ago, I would like to get feedback from you guys, on which celebrities you most want to read about.  Just to be clear though, there will be a few caveats, as there are celebrities that I really don’t care much about, so I prefer not to waste time writing about them, especially given how much time it takes for me to get one of these posts done (though being soft-hearted that I am, lol, if there are celebrities in this category that you absolutely are dying to read about, let me know and I might consider doing a brief, condensed version – but it will be way lower priority).

Here’s the list of celebrities featured in each of the 3 books.  The ones I already wrote about are in BOLD (planning to hyperlink the posts that I wrote, but won’t get a chance to until later – meanwhile, if you’re interested in reading these, please click on the ‘Now and Then’ tag in the sidebar to access the posts). 

Please feel free to indicate your choices and any other feedback in the comments section.

**Note:  Celebrity names are not listed in any particular order!

Book One:

Jacky Cheung (I only did a partial writeup though – I plan on doing a more in-depth piece later on)

Carina Lau

Alan Tam

Leslie Cheung (I will probably update later with the additional ‘special tribute’ that Wong Lai Ling wrote a few years after the first one)

Wong Kar Kui (Beyond)

Jackie Chan

Sammi Cheng

Teresa Teng

Veronica Yip

Brigitte Lin

 
Book Two:

Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Maggie Cheung Man Yuk

Andy Lau

Cherie Chung

Chow Yun Fat

Faye Wong

Danny Chan

Shu Qi

Stephen Chow

Anita Mui

 
Book Three:

Lydia Shum

Eason Chan

Sylvia Chang

Josephine Hsiao

Cecilia Cheung

Daniel  Wu

Sandy Lam

Joey Wong

Rosamund Kwan

Anthony Wong Yiu Ming

*plus special tribute to Leslie Cheung

Jacky Cheung’s 2016 World Tour Concert – Countdown post #1

It’s almost that time again!!!  My idol Jacky Cheung had announced earlier in the year that he will for sure be starting a concert tour this year (2016), however the details have yet to be announced.  A few months ago, an entertainment magazine claimed that Jacky’s concert was originally set to start in October 2016, however due to legal disputes with Jacky’s former concert manager Florence Chan, Jacky and his current concert organizer Universal will be delaying the concert indefinitely.  Universal responded by denying the report and confirming that Jacky’s concert will launch in October 2016 in Mainland China as originally planned.  They did not reveal any other information in their statement though and said that further details will be forthcoming at a later date.  Jacky did confirm in a subsequent interview (during promo efforts for his new movie) that his concert will indeed launch in October and the previous reports of the concert being delayed are false, however he also declined to reveal too much detail and asked that everyone wait for Universal’s official announcement (reporters did ask him about the HK leg of the concert, to which he replied that the ‘earliest’ he would be able to do HK is December due to availability of the HK Coliseum, which is notoriously difficult to book).

 

As of right now, neither Universal nor Jacky have made any official announcements concerning his concert.  With the rise in fraudulent news and scams in the entertainment circle the past few years, especially with the prevalence of social media and ordinary netizens becoming easy targets, I would like to take this opportunity to warn all Jacky fans (and non-fans alike) to be wary of any information you hear / see / read on the Internet pertaining to Jacky’s concert.  Unless the information comes from Universal, Jacky himself, or his official fan club, otherwise, please take whatever you hear with a grain of salt!

 

A few days ago, there was a supposedly ‘leaked’ document from the Mainland company collaborating with Universal for the China leg of Jacky’s concert claiming that the necessary approvals have been received from the Mainland government agencies for the concert to be held in Beijing.  The document claimed to be for the Beijing leg of the tour and listed concert dates, venue, performer, as well as 60 songs that would supposedly be performed (the dates are listed as 10/21 to 10/23 at the LeSports Center in Beijing).  While I’m pretty sure the venue and dates are likely correct, the song list for sure is NOT, for the following reasons: 

 

1) Jacky traditionally sings around 30 to 35 songs at his concerts, which is enough to fill a 2 to 3 hour timeslot – even the shows that go overtime with multiple encore segments have only been around 40 songs max, so for someone to claim that he will song 60 songs in a 3 hour timeframe is ludicrous.

 

2) A few songs from Jacky’s newest album Wake Up Dreaming were not on the list, which is already a huge red flag, since Jacky himself had already said that he will for sure be performing all 10 songs from his new album at his next concert (which is in-line with how Jacky has done it in the past whenever he holds a concert after an album release)

 

3)  Some of the song names in the ‘60-song list’ were actually spelled wrong (there were extra Chinese characters in some of the songs that didn’t belong there while some songs had characters missing, which essentially turns the song into a completely different song altogether).  Obviously this is another huge red flag, as we all know that the official organizers and Jacky himself would never spell the song names wrong – this is not only unprofessional but also hugely erodes credibility.

 

I checked with a few friends in Beijing who are familiar with how the process works there and they told me that the document released was merely a form that the company arranging the concert had to fill out and submit to the Mainland government entities to get permission to use the listed venue.  It is purely a ‘best guesstimate’ procedural document used to secure the facility and by no means should it be treated as any type of ‘official’ announcement regarding the concert.  My friends said that the song choices were most likely the personal preferences of whoever put the form together and therefore should not be treated as ‘the official rundown’ for the concert (one of my friends also told me that the ‘content’ field on the form can’t be left blank otherwise the application will get rejected, which is probably why the person wrote down a list of 60 songs in the hopes that maybe half of them will be on the mark when the official announcement comes out).

 

As I’ve done in past years, I will definitely be posting up concert information in the sidebar section of my blog, however I will only do so once the ‘official’ announcements come out and I am able to validate the information as being correct and accurate.  In the meantime, I encourage those who are highly anticipating Jacky’s concert to be vigilant and carefully filter through any information you receive concerning his upcoming concert tour.

My Thoughts on this year’s HK Film Awards

Not surprisingly, the HKFA was one award ceremony I absolutely was anticipating this year – main reason is of course my idol Jacky Cheung garnering a Best Actor nomination for his role in Heaven in the Dark (and unlike previous years, he was one of the hot favorites this time around).  My other reason for watching was for Sean Lau, as he’s one of my favorite actors and this is actually his first time hosting the awards (director and HKFA association chairman Derek Yee said that it took much persuasion to get Sean to agree to host).

I’m sure everyone has read the results of the HKFA and know who the winners are by now, so I’m not going to bother listing out the winners.  Instead, I am just going to focus on the categories that I actually cared about as well as the highlights (and low lights) of the ceremony this year.

First up – Best Actor (though ironically this was one of the last awards presented last night).  Jacky obviously didn’t win Best Actor (Aaron Kwok won for his role in Port of Call) – if he had won, this post definitely would’ve started with a scream of excitement, lol.  While I’m a little bit disappointed that Jacky didn’t win, I was surprisingly not too upset about it, since I sort of anticipated it already (Jacky just doesn’t have the luck when it comes to film awards).  Of course, us fans were hoping that the 6^th time’s the charm (he was nominated for HKFA Best Actor 5 times previously), but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Well, awards are very much about luck and timing and in a way, all stars need to be aligned, so over the years, I’ve learned not to put too much emotion or attach too much significance to awards.  Whether he ever wins the BA award or not, Jacky will always be Best Actor in my heart and I will always support him!

Even though Jacky didn’t win Best Actor, he did win the Best Dressed award alongside his Heaven in the Dark partner Karena Lam, which I felt was well-deserved because he did look extremely handsome last night.  The expression on Jacky’s face when his name was announced was absolutely priceless – he was obviously very surprised!

Outside of the Best Actor category, the other category I was interested in was Best Picture.  I was actually a bit surprised that Ten Years won given how controversial the movie was, plus the great lengths that Mainland China went to in efforts to suppress the film -- including pulling strings behind the scenes to get all movie theaters to quietly ‘remove’ the film from showing after it became such a surprise hit, as well as Mainland’s latest move of ‘banning’ the HKFA ceremony itself due to Ten Years being nominated  (the awards show is usually aired live in Mainland every year, but this year, they released a statement saying that the show won’t be broadcast in China at all).  Ten Years is actually one of the movies on my ‘must watch’ list and I was super-happy that it had gotten a nomination at HKFA, though to be honest, I was like 99% sure that it wouldn’t actually win the award, since, in recent years, much of the HK entertainment industry has been reluctant to take on Mainland China head-on, so I figured the HKFA would continue along those same lines and not take the risk of doing something that is widely considered as slapping Mainland China in the face.  Well, I was wrong and boy am I glad!  This film went through so much and I’m happy that it was able to overcome all the obstacles it did.  With that said though, the movie still faces a difficult road ahead, but hopefully its HKFA win can help the movie in this area.  The producer was indeed correct when he stated in his acceptance speech that the award actually belongs to all the audiences who supported the film, as they were the ones who turned the previously unknown controversial independent film into a runaway hit.  For me though, I actually applaud the HKFA committee members for being so brave and not letting politics influence their decision this time around.  Congrats to the cast and crew of Ten Years for a well-deserved win!

Oh and one thing I just had to mention – I saw a lot of comments from pro-China supporters slamming the HKFA and there were quite a few netizens as well as other members of the general public who were ‘pissed’ that Ten Years won and felt it was ‘undeserving’ due to its status as an independent film with a largely unknown cast and ‘no name’ new directors, plus its hugely controversial subject matter.  My response to that is – those people’s comments can be ignored because it’s obvious their comments are politically-motivated and they don’t have a clue what movies or artistic creativity are about.  If they want to take the HK vs Mainland China thing so seriously (I agree with the sentiment that a lot of times, it’s really Mainland that is making the conflict bigger than it really needs to be), then they are the ones truly missing out.  They don’t see us Hong Kongers complaining when Mainland actors and actresses take home the Best Actor and Actress trophies, even when we feel our actors/actresses are more deserving, do they??

Ok, so onto the actual ceremony itself….

Here are my favorite moments from this year’s ceremony:

-          Sean Lau’s hosting:  he was great!  For someone who doesn’t like to talk, he did a pretty good job for his first time.   And yes, it was super-sweet that his wife Amy Kwok attended the ceremony just to support her husband (aww, love this couple).  I also got a kick out of Sean’s buddy Nick Cheung ‘teasing’ him throughout the ceremony – I actually feel that Nick was the one who laughed the loudest at all of Sean’s jokes, haha.

-          The segment where so many former child actors went on stage to talk about the first film they acted in and how old they were at the time.  At first, I actually thought this was only a ‘tribute’ segment to child actors, which was very appropriate given this year’s HKFA theme, but it turned out this was a ‘2-in-1’ thing where all of those artists remained onstage to present the Best Director award.  I enjoyed seeing so many of those former child actors again, especially the veteran artists who started back in the 1950s and are still active in the industry even now – really admire their dedication to the HK film industry!  For me, the other highlight was definitely seeing John Chiang and Paul Chun together on the same stage – the first thought that went through my mind in seeing them was how great it would be if their brother Derek Yee (who was nominated for Best Director that night) was up there too?  The Chiang family is one of my (and my family’s) favorite entertainment industry families, so I of course was happy to see Paul, John, and Derek together on the same awards show.  Now of course Derek Yee didn’t end up winning (Tsui Hark won instead for The Taking of Tiger Mountain), but it was still an enjoyable – and extremely rare – moment that I will cherish.  [Sidenote:  I also found it so sweet that Benji and Lesley attended the ceremony to support their dad Paul Chun – when he came out on stage, the camera panned over to Benji and Lesley, who were recording the moment with their cell phones…aww, so sweet!  Love this family!]

-          Another presenter moment I enjoyed was when McDull (from the McDull cartoon series) and Wu Ba (from the HK hit movie Monster Hunt) went onstage to present the award for Best Visual Effects.  Both of them were soooo cute!!  And whoever ‘scripted’ their speech did a pretty good job, as their speech was cute and also got quite a few laughs from the audiences. 

-          Andy Lau presenting the Best Newcomer and Best New Director awards alongside the 5 adorable little girls from the movie Little Big Master was also a nice touch.  I actually like it when they have little kids as presenters because it just makes the atmosphere so much lighter and happier (plus everyone is so much more forgiving when the presenters screw up their speeches).

-          I had fun with the segment where Jacky and Nick presented the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Action Choreography.  They continued to play off their ‘real-life brothers’ relationship right from the getgo, with Nick introducing himself as Jacky.  Throughout their presentation speech, they just kept acting silly, even dragging Sean into it at one point (of course, since Sean is one of Nick’s close friends, lol).  Jacky and Nick also sat together off-stage as well and there was a lot of interaction between them, which was of course expected given their close friendship.  And I swear, based on the number of times the camera panned over to Jacky and Nick, the camera man must be a fan of theirs or something, haha! 

-          Best presentation speech in my opinion goes to Carina Lau, who presented the award for Best Actor.  She did a great job livening the atmosphere and in my opinion, gave a speech that was both witty and fun – she got a lot of well-deserved applause and chuckles, which was definitely needed given that the Best Actor award was the second to last award of the night and everyone had been sitting there for 3 hours straight already.  Good job Carina!

-          Best acceptance speech in my opinion goes to the production team of Ten Years.  As a Hong Konger, I was actually quite moved by their speech, especially the part where they said that the last thing on their minds was that the movie would do well or get any awards – their intention was just to do a little something for HK, their hometown and a city they love.  And both producers humbly acknowledged that their film doesn’t measure up to the others in terms of technical standards (of course, since Ten Years was a low-budget independent film whereas all the others were big-budget commercial films), so they were all the more grateful that the HKFA recognized their efforts.

Concluding thoughts:  Aside from the issue of not very many ‘big stars’ attending the ceremony outside of the nominees (which, to be honest, has been an ‘issue’ with the HKFAs for like the past decade already), this year’s HKFA ceremony still ended up being one of the better HKFA shows the past few years in my opinion.  I enjoyed watching this ceremony more than any other awards show this year.

Congrats to all the winners and hopefully next year will see the emergence of more great films!

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.