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Asia Television Limited (ATV) (亞洲電視有限公司; pinyin: Yàzhōu Diànshì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) was Hong Kong's first television station and was founded on May 29, 1957. It was first known as Rediffusion Television, and renamed Asia Television Limited in 1982.

ATV is one of two free-to-air broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB. It operates two channels: the 24-hour Home channel, which broadcasts in Cantonese, and the 22-hour World channel, which broadcasts primarily in English. The channels are accessible in North America via satellite. In 2002, ATV gained approval from China's State Administration for Radio, Film and Television to beam its two 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, and subsequently enjoyed an upturn in its viewing figures. TVB responded by producing similar game shows.

The establishment of ATV

The station originated from a subscription television service operated by Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited, and launched on May 29, 1957 with the Chinese name 麗的映聲 and call sign RTV. In April 1973, it was offered a free-to-air television broadcasting licence, which ended its fifteen-year cable service in October 1973. Later in December 1973, it was renamed as Rediffusion Television Limited or RTV (麗的電視有限公司).

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 Limited(ATV) (亞洲電視有限公司) on September 24, 1982, since Rediffusion no longer held a stake in ATV.

However, this did not put an end to changes in ATV's ownership. 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 林百欣) 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 (林百欣) and Cheng Yue-tung (鄭裕彤).

On January 30, 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 Diversoes 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 Miss Selina Chow (周梁淑儀).

Location

ATV is currently located at 81 Broadcast Drive in Kowloon Tong. However, the company plans to build a new facility in Tai Po The new Tai Po studio will be ready around the year 2006 and 2007.

Programmes

ATV provides a range of television programmes, including news, infotainment, drama and variety shows. As well as 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.

Channel Rebrand

On January 20, 1989, ATV announced the rebranding of its two channels. The Cantonese channel's name was changed from Gold Channel (黃金台) to ATV Home Channel (亞視本港台), while the English channel was renamed from Diamond Channel (鑽石台) to ATV World Channel (亞視國際台).

In February of the same year, ATV unveiled a new logo, consisting of ribbons in the three broadcast colours (red, blue and green) intersecting into the shape of a windmill. As a result, the station acquired the nickname "The Windmill Channel" or "The Ribbon Channel".

Programmes from ATV Home

ATV has produced numerous classic TV dramas, including Crocodile Tears (鱷魚淚), Fatherland (大地恩情), The Legendary Fok (霍元甲) 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), 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 initiated and hosted certain large-scale prize distribution ceremonies. 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.

Programmes from ATV World

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), Smallville, Crime Scene Investigation ,Elizabeth Iand Doctor Who, as well as the talk show Late Show with David Letterman. Arts and sports programming are also offered, including live coverage of the UEFA Champions League and local horse racing. Putonghua programmes are available on ATV World at off-peak hours.

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.

ATV News

ATV News has a wide and close connection with China and overseas media broadcasters. Additional foreign coverage of news is provided by CNN and CBS. ATV receives CNN transmissions 24 hours a day via satellite from CNN's home base in Atlanta, USA. Through than 10 news bureaux overseas, global breaking news can be accessed immediately via satellite and the Internet.

To make its news programming more accessible, ATV has established an electronic news site (see #External Links). It provides daily and archived local and international news.

Besides producing daily news reports, ATV offers eight news programmes: six in Cantonese, two in English. Its news programmes broadcast in Cantonese are "Monetary Word" (金錢世界), "Chasing Current Affairs" (時事追擊), "Decoding Current Affairs" (時事解碼), "Following Ad Hoc News" (時事熱點追蹤), "Investment Strategy" (窩輪有法) and "Mr. Tsang's Show" (曾sir28騷). Its two English-language news programmes are "Newsline", a discussion show, and "Inside Story", a topical magazine show.

ATV's News Magazine, a recent current affairs production, has won awards at the New York Festival, the Chicago International Television Competition and the Asian Television Awards.

ATV Training Institute

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.

Partnership

Since the beginning, ATV experienced a five-fold increase in the number of shareholders. During June 2002, businessman Chan Wing Kee (陳永棋) along with the chairman of Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited (鳳凰衛視), Liu Changle (劉長樂), 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 Blue Love (藍色生死戀).

New Board of Directors of Asia Television Limited

¹ - New Directors to be appointed ² - Not of permanent residency status

(adapted from ATV homepage)

License

ATV recently had its license 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.

Major Competitor

TVB was the first wireless commercial television station in Hong Kong, and was the initial driving force for the then RTV to switch to free wireless broadcasting from paid cable. It was established in 1967. The Group has now grown to a size of about 5,000, including contract artists and staff in overseas subsidiary companies. The viewership of TVB is usually much higher than that of ATV. TVB has an overwhelming advantage over ATV, mostly due to the entrenched viewing habits of the population -- the company has most local music stars under contract and its Cantonese-language service provides a steady stream of soap operas and undemanding entertainment programming.

Criticism

In recent years, viewing figures for ATV Home have fallen sharply, as the TV station has begun to pander more towards 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.

Moreover, 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). 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 July 1 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.

Praises

Despite the criticism, ATV does draw praise, often when TVB is seen to have blundered. During the 1998 World Cup, ATV continued showing a match, where at the same time TVB unwittingly cut to commercials just as a team was about to score, the football already in motion; another event was during the 2004 Olympics, where TVB gained exclusive broadcasting rights for Hong Kong, but the government had TVB agree to share a part of its rights with ATV and Cable TV. ATV could only broadcast a number of Olympic events, but employed a mix of old and young presenters, including former athletes. The combination proved successful. TVB, on the other hand, decided at first to hire a full cast of youthful presenters, but failed to please the audience, since the presenters came across as inexperienced and ignorant of the sporting events they were commenting on.

See also

External links

Hong Kong media | Hong Kong television | Companies of Hong Kong

亞洲電視 | 亞洲電視

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Asia Television Limited".

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