| Type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | 29 May 1957 (54 years, 265 days) |
| Headquarters | 25-31 Dai Shing Street, Tai Po Industrial Estate, Tai Po, Hong Kong |
| Key people | Kwong Hoi ying (Acting CEO) |
| Products | ATV Home, ATV World, ATV Asia |
| Subsidiaries | aTV Enterprises Ltd aTV International Promotion Ltd hkatv.com Ltd aTV Films Entertainment Ltd aTV Music Ltd |
| Website | hkatv.com |
Asia Television Limited (Chinese: 亞洲電視有限公司) is one of the two free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being rival Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). It launched in 1957 under the name Rediffusion Television as the first television station in Hong Kong. It was bought out, renamed, and restructured to "Asia Television Limited" in 1982.
ATV currently operates six channels: the 24-hour ATV Home channel in Cantonese; the 22-hour ATV World channel in English; the 24-hour Cantonese satellite channel ATV Home (America), which is accessible in North America via satellite, and three digital DMB-T/H channels: aTV Asia, a 24-hour high-definition channel; CCTV-1, the international channel of China Central Television, China.
Prior to 1 April 2009, the following DMB-T/H channels were in operation: News & Business, a 24-hour news and finance news channel; His TV, a 24-hour sports and infotainment channel aimed at men; Her TV, a 24-hour lifestyle infotainment channel aimed at women; Plus TV, a 24-hour documentary channel; and HDTV, a 24-hour high-definition channel.
In 2002, ATV gained approval from China's State Administration for Radio, Film and Television to beam its Home and World channels to the Guangdong Pearl River Delta region. ATV has also established a close relationship with Guangdong TV to ensure their stable cooperation in programme productions, advertising, and sales.
ATV has received numerous awards for its programmes. One of its successes is the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (百萬富翁), a game show originally launched in the United Kingdom in 1998. In 2001, ATV bought the production rights for the Hong Kong market and subsequently enjoyed an upturn in its viewing figures. TVB responded by producing similar game shows.
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Rediffusion Television, the predecessor to ATV, began as a wired radio broadcasting service in 1949.[1] The original office was located on Arsenal Street and Hennessy Road. It launched its subscription-based TV service on 29 May 1957. In 1959, Refiffusion was moved to the offices that was occupied by Fortis Bank Tower.
In 1962, Typhoon Wanda passed over Hong Kong, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Following the passage of Wanda, Rediffusion broadcast the first-ever fund-raising special as a result. The first televised artiste course broadcasted was in 1966 under the title, "Ying Li's voice."
In October 1968, new shows were broadcast on Rediffusion, including variety, sports, and other leisure of interest that attracted more viewers. The most notable show at that time was "Master Q".
Rediffusion was given a free-to-air television broadcasting license in 1973 by the Hong Kong Government. This comes after the government had switched to using the wireless television, which Rediffusion was one of two (currently four) free-to-air stations (the other is TVB). It has remained this way as of 2010[update].
In 1976, the Hong Kong government introduced a new lottery system that was broadcast twice a week on Rediffusion. The first host of that show was Xia Chunqiu.
In 1981, Rediffusion in the UK sold 61% of its shares in RTV to an Australian consortium. In July 1982, a Chinese enterprise called Far East Group (遠東機構), owned by the Chiu family, took a stake in the company, such that Far East Group and the Australian consortium each held 50% of RTV's shares. The move marked the first time that a Chinese enterprise had played a role in RTV. RTV was renamed "Asia Television" later in the same year.[2]
The company that operated ATV frequently recorded losses, and in January 1984, following the withdrawal of the Australian enterprise, the Chiu family bought all of the shares.
In August 1987, the shares of ATV were put up for sale. One year later, Asia Television Limited, the Lam family (led by Lim Por Yen), and the New World Group each owned one-third of the shares. At that time, the members of Board of Directors included Deacon Chiu (邱德根), Lim Por-yen, Fang Li and Cheng Yu-tung.
On 30 January 1989, the Chiu family sold its shares of ATV to New World Group and Lai Sun Group (麗新集團) for HK$237.5 million. The New World Group held half of the shares, while the Lam family owned one-third and Lai Sun held one-sixth. At the same time, Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) joined as a minority shareholder. As announced by the Board of Directors, the new Chairman was Cheng Yue-tung and the Vice-Chairman was Lim Por Yen. The Administrative Director was Selina Chow.
In November 2002, Lai Sun Development, which was heavily indebted following the HK$7 billion acquisition of the Furama Hotel at the height of the property bubble in 1997, announced that it would sell its 32.75% stake to the company's chief executive, Chan Wing-kee (陳永棋), for HK$360 million in cash.[3]
In June 2007, Chan, along with Liu Changle (劉長樂), chairman of Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited, established a company that later bought most of ATV's shares. Afterwards, Chan Wing-kei took the post of Administrative Director General. With the change of shareholder, there was innovation in the direction of production, marketing strategy, and human resources. One of the significant changes is the increasing purchase of foreign programmes, such as the South Korean Drama Autumn in My Heart/Endless Love (藍色生死戀).
In December 2008, City Telecom chairman Ricky Wong Wai Kay was assigned as new the chief executive. While former PCCW deputy chairman Linus Cheung Wing-lam becomes executive chairman.[4] After just 2 weeks Ricky Wong resigned from his position due to many factors.[5] In early 2009, Taiwanese billionaire Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) signed a preliminary agreement to become a key shareholder of Alnery, a company that controls 47.58% of ATV.[6] Tsai has agreed to inject HK$1 billion in the form of convertible bonds.[7] Tsai and Payson Cha have since debated over control of the station.[8]
In July 2007, ATV left its long-time home at 81 Broadcast Drive in Kowloon Tong and moved into a new facility in Tai Po. The original home was demolished in 2008-2009 and is now a residential development.
The Tai Po production facilities cover 550,000 square feet (51,000 m2) and is three times larger than the old facilities on Broadcast Drive. The Tai Po facilities have four news studios, eight variety show and drama studios and a range of digital broadcasting facilities. The largest studio covers 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2).[9] The new HQ is the former site of the Lee Kum Kee's Hong Kong headquarters and factory operations in Hong Kong.
ATV News is the news gathering arm of ATV. It produces daily newscasts in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, which are seen on its Home, World, and News & Business Channels. Additional foreign news coverage is provided by CNN and CBS. The station has long been recognized as pro-Beijing.[4]
ATV broadcasts a range of television programmes, including news, infotainment, drama, and variety shows. In addition to producing its own shows, ATV has acquired popular TV programmes from overseas markets to cater to changing audience tastes. Of note, ATV has bought in popular TV dramas from South Korea and Mainland China for broadcast in prime time.
ATV has produced numerous classic TV dramas, including Crocodile Tears (鱷魚淚), Fatherland (大地恩情), "The Legend", The Legendary Fok (霍元甲), Central Affairs I and II (情陷夜中環), and Reincarnated (天蠶變). Recent productions of note include The Pride Of Chao Zhou (我來自潮州), Who is the Winner? (勝者為王), Who is the Winner?! 2: King of Green Bat, King Of The Gambler (千王之王重出江湖), and The Good Old Days (再見艷陽天).
In recent years, ATV has created and hosted certain large-scale award shows. The most well-known would probably be The Annual Most Popular TV Commercial Awards (十大電視廣告頒獎禮).
Other infotainment programmes like Stories From Afar (尋找他鄉的故事) ranked highly in the Appreciation Index Survey Best Television Awards (香港電視節目欣賞指數), as reflected by a public review.
Some ATV programmes, such as the entertainment news show Hong Kong Today (今日睇真D) and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (百萬富翁), have proved particularly popular, prompting local rival TVB to offer similar fare.
Asia Television used to air the British Science Fiction Programme Doctor Who and were responsible for returning one of their copies to the BBC, when BBC Enterprises wiped many Doctor Who serials in the 1970s. The Tomb of the Cybermen returned in late 1991.
A list of drama series produced by ATV:
ATV World is one of two English-language channels that broadcast in Hong Kong. It offers a variety of programmes, mostly from the United States, ranging from popular serial dramas and films to documentaries and educational shows. Among the shows it has aired are Ally McBeal (甜心俏佳人), Survivor (生還者), Smallville (超人前傳), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (滅罪鑑證科), Elizabeth I (伊利沙伯一世傳奇), CSI: Miami (鑑證行動組), Cold Case (鐵證懸案), CSI: NY (鑑證紐約), Grey's Anatomy (醫人當自強), The Closer (真相追擊), Doctor Who (異世奇人), and Ghost Whisperer (靈感應). ATV stopped carrying the talk show Late Show with David Letterman (大衛牙擦騷) as of 1 January 2009[update], but there has been a grass-roots movement to bring it back. Arts and sports programming are also offered (e.g. local horse racing, in Chinese 賽馬直擊). Mandarin and Korean programmes are available on ATV World at off-peak hours.
ATV World's flagship English news programme is Main News and Weather Report at 7:30, provided under the collective effort of ATV News.
Given its focus on English-language programming in a predominantly Cantonese-speaking market, ATV World carries relatively little advertising and is subsidised by ATV Home. Both free-to-air television companies in Hong Kong are required by the government to provide an English-language service. In the face of competition from TVB Pearl, ATV World has, in recent years, switched focus from dramas and movies to documentaries and natural history shows, likely because such programming is less expensive to acquire. Although movies formerly aired on Saturdays, movies acquired by ATV are generally aired on Monday nights, leading to the Late News programme as of 2010[update].
Asia Television Training Institute was founded to train people who are interested in joining the television industry. There are four faculties including television production, television artwork, television talent and technical production. Some of the graduates are offered work at ATV.
ATV recently had its licence renewed for another 12 years. Under the terms of the licence renewal, the Broadcasting Authority required that ATV World provide bilingual subtitles on news, weather and current affairs shows, educational shows, and emergency announcements, beginning in December 2004. The company was also required to provide more cultural and arts shows.
Not counting pay television channels, ATV's major competitor is Television Broadcasts Limited, the other terrestrial television station in Hong Kong. TVB is regarded as the driving force behind ATV's decision to transform its Pay TV operation to terrestrial TV broadcasting.
For many years, TVB has been the predominant ratings leader in Hong Kong, its programmes often capturing 90-95% of viewing audience. In the Pearl River Delta area of China, ATV used to enjoy a 70% ratings share in the late 90s, largely due to rebroadcasting rights. The ratings share has since reduced to 2-3%.
TVB is known to typecast their performers, with some always given lead roles and others always given supporting roles. As such, certain actors have left TVB for ATV in hopes of better opportunities, although in most cases the crossover will mean a virtual end of an actor's career. The majority of the leading roles are actually given to veteran TVB actors. While some veteran TVB actors merely switch sides because their contract ended, some joined because they're offered better compensation and positions to veteran TVB actors. There were several known incidents where TVB had certain dramas planned and were forced to cancel or rewrite scripts because the star(s) of the role left for other opportunities and vice versa. While TVB also acquired ATV actors, the cross over is higher in frequency with TVB actors to ATV.
In recent years, viewing figures for ATV Home have fallen sharply, as the TV station has begun to cater more to the interests of the mainland Chinese audience, who can now legally receive the channel. Some Hong Kong viewers have complained that programmes aired on ATV Home are "old-fashioned" and not in tune with the preferences of the Hong Kong TV audience.
News programmes broadcast by ATV are deemed by some observers to have taken on a pro-Beijing bias, reporting news involving pro-democracy political forces in Hong Kong in a negative light. (A short talk show on current affairs that airs after the six o'clock news frequently invites pro-Beijing advocates to air their views, often praising the PRC's policies and criticising pro-democratic parties, especially when these parties invoke a demonstration. There have since been other pro-democratic guests, but this does not balance out the pro-Beijing bias). TVB's news programming has been similarly criticised for its "pro-establishment" stance. Although the Hong Kong media has freedom of speech, self-censorship is commonly practised at media organisations whose owners have business interests in mainland China. A shift in ownership of ATV in mid-2006 sparked concern that ATV would become even more pro-Beijing.
For example, the pro-democracy 1 July marches usually makes the headline news on TVB, but ATV usually makes the pro-Beijing counter protests the headline news. ATV also attempts to dilute the pro-democracy message of the marches by saying the participants have different messages.
The view that aTV has taken a pro-Beijing bias has largely shifted towards TVB by 2009. aTV had broadcast the 20th Anniversary 4 June gathering as part of their main news, even using footage of the people's movement in 1989, which was highly praised by internet users; by contrast, TVB merely dabbed the issue, and this seems to have taken on self-censoring, drawing criticism from netizens and forum users, mocking and jeering that TVB had become "CCTVB".
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