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What's gonna happen to ATV?

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  1. #11

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    Stephen Vines has a pretty insightful article on the tragicomical situation of ATV:
    Death of Asia Television a showcase of meddling and politics, irresponsible shareholders | South China Morning Post

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  2. #12

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    Is the end game of ATV finally appearing I wonder:

    Cash-strapped ATV’s bid to delay salary hearing denied by Hong Kong magistrate | South China Morning Post

    ATV claims there are investors interested yet still can't find the money to pay its staff? I know the government is protecting ATV, but this is getting ridiculous. This "prosecution" is really a light touch, similar cases in the past has shown the court unwilling to impose a harsh penalty and it does nothing about the future of ATV. Is the government really running out ideas in protecting ATV?

    Last edited by Cho-man; 30-01-2015 at 06:48 PM.

  3. #13

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    If ATV was a dog you would euthanise it to put it out of it's misery.

    I don't know if they still do it but they used to have a whole evening of nothing but horse racing. WTF?

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  4. #14

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    Does anyone know what the heck is going on at ATV? First their news department announced that HKTV's Ricky Wong is now taking over ATV as the majority shareholder, now HKTV is denying any such agreement.

    I know the ATV news department is badly demoralized, but to give out blatantly false news? They did that once already with the alleged claim that Jiang Zemin is dead and was penalized for that. Now this is the nail in their coffin for any remaining credibility they have left.

    Or is this some kind of political game? Is the news department taking revenge on their ATV bosses for not paying them the salaries? Or is HKTV backing away from such a plan because the ATV news department blurted out this without their final approval?

    Its clear CY Leung is dead-set against Ricky getting a free-to-air TV license for personal or political reasons, but this prolonging of ATV's license situation will only add to the tragic-comedic situation at ATV. The news are reporting that the executive council will meet to decide on ATV today, I wonder if they'll finally withdraw ATV's license (as any sane regulatory authority would have done) or stretch it out even further?

    Last edited by Cho-man; 01-04-2015 at 11:25 AM.
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  5. #15

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    Well the government has announced that they would not be renewing ATV's broadcast license, so this is the effective end for the TV network. They will be allowed to broadcast for 12 more months and that's it. Or at least that is what I could understand from the cantonese news broadcast, someone correct me if I'm wrong:

    消息指亞視不獲續牌 - 有線寬頻 i-CABLE

    The government has finally done one right thing. Yes, its a shame all those ATV employees will be laid off. And now HK will be stuck with only one free-to-air TV station, TVB, for the immediate time being. Although if I'm not mistaken, PCCW and Cable also have free-to-air TV licenses.

    P.S-I've been hearing news that ATV intentionally gave out false news about Ricky Wong taking over ATV to pressure the government to relent (as they know Leung will never allow Ricky a free-to-air license). I don't quite understand how that pressure tactic is supposed to work, by threatening the prospect of Ricky over Leung? Well if it ever entertained such notions, it has backfired spectacularly on ATV, dooming its future.

    Last edited by Cho-man; 01-04-2015 at 07:05 PM.