Broadcast Drive

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The road sign for Broadcast Drive, with the old ATV building in the background

Commercial Radio's building on Broadcast Drive

Broadcast Drive (traditional Chinese: 廣播道; simplified Chinese: 广播道; pinyin: Guǎngbō Dào; Cantonese Yale: gwong2 bo3 dou6) is a road in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. The road is notable as having played host to five broadcasting outlets in Hong Kong at one point in the 1970s, and the hill on which the road is located was known as Ng Toi Shan (五台山, lit. five-station hill) during that time. The five broadcasters were:

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), whose headquarters (Broadcasting House) was inaugurated in 1969
Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK)
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB)
Rediffusion Television (RTV), later renamed Asia Television Limited (ATV); and
Commercial Television

The area became known as Four-station Hill (四台山) in 1978 following Commercial Television's collapse. Its studio building was acquired by RTHK for its television unit, and was reopened as Television House in 1986.

TVB moved its operations to the Clearwater Bay TV City in 1992, and ATV moved to Tai Po in 2007, leaving RTHK and CRHK the only remaining broadcasters on the road. RTHK has announced plans to move its operations to Tseung Kwan O within the next few years. The reason for the departure of broadcast stations is partly due to the rising value of the land occupied and stations cashing in the rise in value.

The area is also a well known high end (though gradually aging) residential neighborhood, and is home to those mainly from professional and upper middle class backgrounds.

[edit] Trivia

Broadcast Drive intersects two other roads with names related to broadcasting: Marconi Road (for Guglielmo Marconi) and Fessenden Road (for Reginald Fessenden).