ATV Presses Police Charges Against CTI’s Ricky Wong for Theft
Above: Maggie Cheung had filmed for a CTI drama…will it see the light of the day?
The Hong Kong government is currently is its final stage of review regarding City Telecom’s (CTI) application for a free TV broadcasting license. The government has been pressured by TVB against approving CTI’s license, arguing against its legality and long-term financial viability for the stations. ATV is now stalling for time by accusing CTI’s Ricky Wong (王維基) for theft of ATV’s business documents.
ATV has allegedly filed a police report against Ricky Wong for stealing internal documents prior to his departure as ATV’s CEO two years ago. It was rumored that ATV has videotape evidence of Ricky’s theft.
Ricky dismissed ATV’s accusations as pure nonsense and that there was no videotape evidence in existence. “They are fabricated from nothing!” Ricky challenged ATV to reveal to the public exactly what the missing internal documents are. He also questioned why ATV senior management, since taking over 2 years ago, is only now crying over the “missing” documents after a lengthy lapse in time.
Ricky Wong: “ATV is Stalling for Time!”
Ricky believed that ATV pressed charges against him for theft in order to stall for time, since the government is in its final stage of review for CTI’s broadcasting license. The government must assure that the licensee is a fit and proper entity. With ATV ready to slander his name, this will result in another delay of 3 to 6 months in governmental investigations in Ricky’s purported theft case.
“ATV has become crazy and utterly incomprehensible,” Ricky described ATV’s desperate attempt to prevent CTI from obtaining its broadcasting license sooner. He pointed out that ATV’s filing of a false police report is a criminal offense.
Although Ricky’s lawyer had issued a letter to ATV asking for an apology due to their slanderous claims, ATV has not yet responded. It is understood that Ricky will now formally file a petition against ATV for slander.
ATV’s Public Relations representative refused to address whether the station had indeed filed a police report against Ricky Wong for theft of business documents. ATV Senior Vice President, Kwong Ho Ying (鄺凱迎) refused to respond to the press’ inquiries. ATV will hold a press conference later today to address the controversy.
With the pool of advertising revenue in the Hong Kong market limited, TVB and ATV are pulling all stops to prevent another new TV station to enter the market. Will CTI die an early death or will it get its broadcasting license in time before running into cash flow difficulties?
Source: Ming Pao
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If ATV did file false charges and is stalling for time, they may be hoping that CTI will run dry on its cash flow soon.
Wonder what other sources of revenue, besides TV advertising, CTI has? How has CTI been funding current expenses without stable source of revenue?
TVB will have the stronger voice in lobbying against the approval of the broadcasting licenses. TVB’s legal argument is that its broadcasting license will not expire until 2015, the government cannot grant new licensees in the interim. TVB can theoretically spend millions challenging the government should it proceed to approve CTI’s license.
Even if CTI does manage to get approval, it does not bode well for what is ahead. CTI will be fighting an uphill battle.
Sorry Ricky wont run out of money anytime soon. He is on Forbe’s list of billionaires. After he sold his communications company, he set aside even more money and gave himself time to commit to this. This is a man that will pull all stops to better the rest of HK, they are supporting him.
ATV knows its days are numbered, they cannot deliver and do not have public support. Their loss in revenue is due to themselves, no one else.
TVB can make all the cases it wants but it cannot fight someone who is doing much more for the improvement of HK industry. I project that he will make better television shows simply because he is doing it out of passion and not just money, that in itself will yield the best and most creative outcome.
CTI is well funded as it sold it’s telecom business for HKD 5billion in May and he personally dismissed the idea in an interview of liquidity problems e.g. could potentially invest in corporate bonds yielding 7%.
According to this analysis CTI has enough cash to operate for appr. 3,5 yrs. However it’s obvious Ricky wants to move forward as it’s burning cash fast.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1031761-city-telecom-s-dividend-yield-deeply-misleading
Maybe if ATV films a drama out of this, they might get higher than ZERO ratings
I am somewhat disappointed in Ricky Wong’s strategies thus far. He appears helpless in influencing the Hong Kong government’s approval process.
Is Ricky battling this alone? i-Cable also wishes to obtain a free TV broadcasting license, but i-Cable has remained conveniently silent over recent controversies.
I don’t understand why HK gov’t should be stalling. I don’t see how having more free channels can hurt.
I don’t even know how this guy get his money from. What if the government doesn’t give him the license? What’s gonna happen to the actor/actress/producer that switch over to CTI? If everything goes well with CTI, congrats!!! Sound like this boss treats his employee very good. TVB should learn from him.
If they are not granted a licence,CTI can always aired the new production series in their cable network and sold it to overseas.
If CTI can not get license, they can go to pay-tv route for short term basis, just to build some audience. Hell, CableTV and NowTV is in the pay-tv market a very long time.
Get some backing, buy ATV, lmao
The behaviors of the recent television stations both ATV and TVB have been atrocious and lets the government see how dangerous it is to have a monopoly. Since when did TVB and ATV yield so much power as to stop creative freedom and competition? Who do they think they are? All the more reason the Government will approve the license because otherwise, tyranny will exist and deaden the HK industry. For many years, its been stagnating because TVB wants to liason and control everything even music platforms and exposure of certain artists and exclusion of others, this is abominable behavior that has been tolerated too long.
Could it be the mainland governments feels additional stations will make it harder to control the anti-mainland sentiment?
oops.. government
No, that is not the case. Its $$$$$ and TVB and ATV do have some HK political backs.
who is this ricky wong guy? is he that rich? does he even know anything about the entertainment industry? or is he just that rich, that he can do whatever he pleases?
Watch CTI trailer and see it yourself
Where can I watch CTI trailers?
I like th people in CTI so far so I’m hoping the government will give it the free to air license soon
One of the main reasons I’m looking forward to this is because Bernice joined. While she doesn’t produce top-notch acting skills, she’s a sweet and bubbly girl. She’s also very attractive.
Too bad and very disappointed that she too succumbed to PS to fix her jawline. I can hardly recognize her these days. No longer the Bernice I knew. More’s the pity.
TeeVeeBee Winning 🙂
wow, to know that all these people who are well educated and hold high post in corporate companies using dirty tricks to stop cti is indeed very sad, makes me wonder are tvb and cti gangsters’ companies?
If you listen to the present sentiments in HK, there is such a huge and growing demand for better entertainment/television, everyone has resorted to watching other dramas for entertainment instead. I think there will be massive growth and revenue for CTI(domestic and foreign exporting to Japan, Korea since the quality will be on par) once the government approves the license.
Lets not get over board when CTI is able to export to other countries. They are still in early life of a young company in the tv field.
his business plan likely includes long term models to sustain, otherwise how can he project growth? precisely because it is a start up company, it has be mapped out ahead. you cant venture into operating without long term goals, which im sure he has. he successfully changed HK communications, if he carries his experience and skills over, he could likely do the same for the television industry as well.
Ricky sold his successful telecommunication venture for $5 billion HKD. This is a man that has a long-term plan and knows how to run a successful business, better than most of us on Jaynestars. Of course, he will export his drama oversea for exposure and increase revenue stream. That is without a doubt.
CTI preview of dramas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X1Y6A4GoBWs
I guess it’s HKTV from now on. Their comments are so funny and spot on, LOL.
More info for their dramas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmNHPxyn8o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkQPc5V2Ai4
i must say cti dramas in the preview are looking sharp.