ATV Firing of Artists Sparks Outrage
ATV has been on a downward spiral for the past few years, and nothing has turned the situation around.
The latest futile attempt to stop the fall of ATV was to have the artists attend a training class 5 days a week for 4 weeks. All Mr. and Miss Asia’s that signed with ATV, the homegrown singers, and any artists under ATV contracts must attend. The instructors are the upper management team and a few experienced actors. Unfortunately, most artists found the classes, such as introduction to ATV’s history, non-relevant and stopped attending after the second day. When majority investor Wong Ching (王征) showed up for his pep talk, only a few artists were present. Wang naturally was not impressed and later some artists, including Priscilla Chi (戚黛黛), Ben Chung (張啟樂), Aki Chan (陳綺雯), and Che Che (車車), were fired.
When some ex-ATV’s artists, William Chak (翟威廉), Alice Chan (陳煒), Pinky Cheung (張文慈), and Stephen Au (歐錦棠) heard of the incident, they were upset with their former-boss and expressed their anger.
Artists Should be Cherished
William Chak, who left ATV in 2009 and now works for TVB, was up in arms about his former employer’s policy. Although he was not sure what happened behind the scene, William said he knew the artists that were fired. “Many of them are decent artists. For example, Priscilla Chi is multi-talented and a rare find in the industry.” William said, “I have worked with many of the artists before, so I am sure many of them are loyal to ATV and support the company. The artists are the TV station’s most valuable assets, and should be appreciated and cherished.”
Another former ATV artist, Alice Chan, was perplexed as to why the artists were asked to attend a course in ATV’s history when many of them already know even more than the owner. Alice mentioned that one of the fired employees, Ben Chung, has never been late to work, studies his scripts well, and is a fine lyricist. “A truly talented artist,” Alice said, “I was really at a loss why Ben was fired.” When asked if she will recommend TVB to recruit Ben, Alice said, “Unfortunately, I don’t have such clout.”
Pinky Cheung wrote on her Weibo, “I can no longer stand Wong Ching’s behavior. The reason why ATV’s rating is hitting rock bottom is not because of the artists, not because of the company, but because of the owner! I have not been around ATV for a few years, but I still have plenty of friends there. When I saw Wong Ching forcing the artists to parade with him to stop the issuing of additional TV licenses, I felt sorry for the helpless artists working there.” Pinky said that while she cannot stand the owner, she does not want ATV to go away. However, she was infuriated and needed to vent for her ex-colleagues.
Wong Ching Leads ATV’s Downfall
Stephen Au, who left ATV in early 2000’s, was even more furious on the firing of the artists. “When I heard about the training class ATV artists have to go through, I was speechless. For new artists, yes, I can see the reason for doing so. For many who already have years of experiences, why?” Stephen said there is absolutely no reason to fire the artists, and exclaimed that Wong Ching is the one who will lead the downfall of ATV. When the reporter asked Stephen whether ATV should be more focused on productions than pulling stunts such as training classes, he answered, “Production? It’s a little too late!” Stephen also predicted, “The green light on the additional free-to-air television licenses will lead to ATV’s death.”
Source: On.cc, On.cc, On.cc, On.cc
This article is written by Lance for JayneStars.com.
Wong Ching is a mainland scum, and ATV is a propaganda machine for the communist regime. I hope it goes bankrupt soon.
And they keep making a fool of themselves…
It’s mandatory. If the artists take their job seriously
then you won’t get fired. No matter how ridiculous or boring the classes is, you still gotta go. Just like college. That’s good you guys got fired. You have learned your lesson.
No, you do not to take specific classes if you met the pre-requisites. When you go to college, you are paying tuition and selecting the classes best suited for you. Not sure which college you went to…
correction, it should read “you do not need to take specific classes…”
It dont matter. It’s mandatory, which means you have to go no matter what. We have to pay for the classes that has nothing to do with our majors. Like Science & History & PE. What do its gotta do with Accounting/Finance??? We still had to take it, it’s a requirements.
ATV should just fired their whole staff. Nobody is watching their crap anyway, why not just rerun some older series?
Since when, as an actor, do you not have to hone your skills? This is a career for them, not a meandering college course. Sure the training class started on a pointless discourse but I find it hard to believe that in the 4 weeks that they were required to attend, none of the artists could extract something meaningful from the training. If this is the mentality of today’s “rising stars” that the actors in the golden era possessed, Tony Leung (whom imo) would’ve never became the brilliant actor he is today. Just as you are expected to put in hours of preparation for whatever field that you’re in, these actors should be held to the same standards as well. They are being contracted and obligatory should attend these courses in spite of any skepticism.
I understand punishing them for skipping mandatory classes, but firing them and releasing them from their contracts for TVB to snap up is just stupid.
But hey, no-one really likes ATV and hopes it will die a quick death so maybe it’s a good idea afterall.
This is silly. Ben Cheung has been with ATV longer than the current boss. He can act, sing and host. I hope TVB hire him.
Hello ,who is Ben Cheung ,i never hear of this guy before ?
have he act in movie before?
is atv already stop produce tv serial .is the Julian cheung gaming drama “who the winner” the last atv serial ?
This is Ben Cheung.
http://app.hkatv.com/_upload/atvstar/82_1.jpg
He has acted in some movies before, but, I mostly saw him in ATV series.
Have you seen Central Affairs 1 & 2. He was in these 2 series.
Manecy Chen of ATV accidentally announced her salary on a show… HK$7000. Yes… that’s minimum wage!
7000 a month or a week or a year???????????????
a month…
Introduction to ATV’s history who really cares? haha
It seems Wong Ching is born with a silver spoon and his family has connections to the Communist party in China.
Wonder if he is just a puppet and that the Communist party is the real owner. Either way his management skills sucks big time. ATV has become a financial black hole just good for laundering money.
Hello ,who is Wong Ching ?
Do you mean that ATV is pro China,pro Pakistani,Palestine and anti west,anti Israel while TVB is anti China and pro west,pro Indian etc?
Wong Ching? He’s a scum bag.
ATV is pro China but that doesn’t mean TVB is anti China. For the most part, TVB tries to stay neutral to please the HK audience but they also know they can’t offend the China audience.