Free-to-Air TV License Battle Continues
TVB filed a case with the High Court to stop the government from giving out additional free-to-air licences, in hopes of barring fair competition in Hong Kong’s free television broadcasting industry. The case was eventually rejected on grounds that the government will not review intermediate steps of the administration’s decision-making process.
On the other hand, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau openly accepted the judge’s decision and is actively trying to speed up the process to launch the free-to-air licenses for other broadcasting television stations. The three companies applying for the license include Hong Kong Television (HKTV), Fantastic Television Limited, and Hong Kong Television Entertainment Company Limited.
When the judge made the decision to reject TVB’s application to stop the licenses from being released, the judge – Thomas Au, stated that TVB has not suffered from any substantial losses because the case of airing licenses have yet to be decided. Therefore, TVB’s complaint about the loss of their future investment of $6 billion HKD is not considered to be relevant as of right now. Although the arguments raised by TVB are relatively valid, the judge sided with the government and announced that the courts will not be interfering with governmental work unless arguments are based on facts that will affect the actual decision-making.
Commerce and Economic Development Bureau Encourages the Decision
Representatives from the bureau have expressed the need to speed up the process with regards to the licenses, while the government said that they would make a public announcement when the authorities have reached a final agreement. Agreeing with the bureau, HKTV welcomes the court’s rulings, as there would be no more excuses from the government to delay the release of the licences.
However, TVB’s lawyer, Gerald McCoy, complained that the report from the Communications Authority was erroneous and may have potentially affected the ruling. TVB expressed their disappointment in the ruling and has voiced their need in seeking further legal advice and perhaps prepare for an appeal.
ATV has also previously been to court, trying to push back the release of the free-to-air licenses, but they eventually failed to persuade the judges.
Share Prices on the Rise
Ever since the government’s refusal to acknowledge TVB’s judicial review against the free-to-air licenses, the share prices of the three applicants, HKTV, Fantastic TV, and Hong Kong Television Entertainment Co. Ltd, have been increasing. HKTV’s stock prices were up by 18.3 percent to $7.15 USD on the Nasdaq while i-Cable, parent company to Fantastic TV rose 6.4 percent to $41.50 HKD. PCCW, parent company to Hong Kong Television Entertainment, rose 0.72 percent. TVB’s stock price fell 1.1 percent to $61.45.
It is still unknown as to how long it will take for the courts to make a final decision, but looking at the current situation, the three applicants seem to have the upper hand. Hong Kong may finally see increased competition in the free broadcasting television industry.
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
“Consumers win when businesses compete.” 🙂
not true. fierce competitions only force people out of business. no business lasts long if such mentality is in check. No matter how successful company is, overtime it will fail. Please do not start with their business model being out of date and they fail to meet customers wants and needs. Lets just look at today’s quality compared to say 20 years ago. Lets go with the music industry. If you notice artists back then, they were selected on their voices and not their looks. Their songs back then took a while to churn out. Today songs are spit out so fast because if they don’t they won’t get their paycheck. And 99% of the time it crap!!!! Quality back then were quality. Now fierce competition has pushed everyone to release new stuff but inferior quality. You think it good to compete but compete will lead to the downfall for everyone. When we work together, we all can succeed.
Really? Is monopoly better? 🙂
Not when it comes to TV shows! For heaven sake, competition is healthy for TV shows.
@ lin, don’t believe darren, he/she’s most probably working for tvb, competition is the road to breakthroughs, tvb is a sinking ship, china govt should release licenses to other applicants, have good shows to sell to overseas market
@forward,
I know. I was being sarcastic.
You seem to have mistaken increased competition for speed and cutting corners. Increased competition can also mean make a better product so consumers will buy yours instead of your competitor’s.
Then why was TVB drama back in the 80s, 90s and early 90s quality dramas when they basically the only one dominated the market? Was it due to competition? NOT
In my own personal perspective, it was political perspectives. Today, we live in a neoliberalism world… Basically profit = the only thing companies care these days.
@Coco,
Agreed, nowadays, without competition to keep quality up, TVB (being the dominant provider) can cut corners left and right (to maximize profit) while keeping customers because consumers have no better alternative.
Competition will not send TVB to its demise but will motivate it to perform better (and increase quality).
“in hopes of barring fair competition in Hong Kong’s free television broadcasting industry. ”
Did I read wrong? In America TVB would have been charged with anti trust laws!
Funn lim,
You are not wrong. It is very easy to get a license for TV broadcasting here -in USA- and nobody has the right to against that. I am really surprise that why the HK government takes too long for giving those licences. Monopoly should be eliminated for an healthy economy .
I think you and Funn is wrong. To get a license in the Americas is easier said than actually being done. There are specific guidelines to follow and if they find it to be too “over the top”, censorship.
and in Canada, CRTC= controls the license and it has to be like 60% Canadians.
I think it’s about time that tvb let go of its monopoly.
“Monopoly is a terrible thing, till you have it.” 🙂
Oh monopoly is bad, Lin.
Just look at BC Hydro, Translink and ICBC ._.
@Bubblez,
I know monopoly is bad. Just had to share the funny quote.
oh okay :3
come on, tvb move over, i want to see catherine and virginia on their toes, can’t stand horrid people having a good life while others suffer
Hope they speed up the. Process for more competition
im happy if there will be new competitors,its good for the quality of drama series i think,however i know that this could be the end of tvb which im grown up with since im a kid. all these years tvb brought us numerous memorable dramas and variety shows,so its a little pity to see how tvb quality of today cant meet up the expectations of their glorydays in the eighties and nineties.
there was a report that llwy12 translated on AF that said the gov’t is ready to issue the licenses soon, but they’re not going to give out 3 licenses…2 at the most. hopefully HKTV is one of the stations receiving a license, since they’ve produced a lot of programming already.
and wow at how low HKTV’s stock is. there’s no way it was that low when ricky wong ran it as a telecom.
@based: Thanks for the reference! 🙂 But just had to clarify….actually, that article wasn’t translated by me – it was written in English already so I just pulled and pasted it as is from its source (it was from the newspaper “The Standard”).
Anyway, that article did say that according to a ‘government source’, the Executive Council is leaning towards issuing 1-2 licenses only, not the 3 as originally thought. As I stated in my comments about that article, unless I hear it announced formally by an ‘official’ government personnel (and not some ‘mysterious’ govt source), I’m taking this 1-2 license thing as an ‘unfounded rumor’ for now. Having said that though, I do agree with you in that I hope HKTV is one of the companies that receives the license, since at this point in time, they are pretty much the only ‘direct’ competition to TVB in terms of TV series (I-Cable is focusing on news and big sports events while NowTV’s focus will be on variety programs – they will produce TV series, but those are geared more toward Mainland market….HKTV is the only one truly focusing on the HK television series market).
How many times have I seen comments on this website wishing TVB an early demise, a sinking ship etc. How many of you guys who wrote these comments actually live in Hong Kong? To Forward- for your information HK is under the HK SAR ie. Special Adminstrative region and altough a part of China, decisions are made by HK own authority. No,I dont work for TVB, anytime someone defends or make positive comments about TVB is right away accused of working for this station. So how many of you are working for HKTV??
I honestly don’t think people wish TVB to die, they want them to change back to the quality they use to produce when profit wasn’t the only thing on their minds. HKTV getting a license is what people are hoping will be the catalyst for them to step up their game.
I both love and hate TVB fiercely. I don’t live in HK, but they have the ability to make some awesome shows and unless someone forces them to make some changes, they will continue the downward slide towards being a joke like ATV.
HKTV is the first company in a long time to try and advance the entertainment business in such a huge leap to something that can create a huge industry and put HK back on the top for certain genres. It has lost its power through inept and corrupt management at TVB which the attitude has trickled down into other entertainment productions.
The better quality shows that HK produce, all around (TVB ,HKTV, etc) have a better chance of getting shown around the world (Patriot Yue Fei – yes I know its a mainland production but still) and gaining popularity, good will, fans of Chinese culture. – Right now it doesn’t really have a great rep. – TV dramas are considered cheap and repetitive, movies are no longer the best action, music is mass produced and sounds like everyone else. – We wont get into quality of consumer products.
There is absolutely no good reason to stop HKTV from getting a license and creating some fierce creative competition. Everyone will win if they step up to the challenge. The only losers will be the people who didn’t try or didn’t want to change because they feared they might lose their massive paychecks.
Funn Lim, HK is HK, laws of big brother USA may not be the best!
What the…Jackie Chan, is that you?
No, I am Jet Li, Vicki Zhao, Fan Bing Bing, Tony Leung Chiu Wai all combined together. A stupid question deserves a stupid answer!
you’re weird.
Hello there, why am I wierd? You asked me if I was Jackie Chan? Can anyone post a pro TVB or HK comment without being labelled as Jackie Chan or his imposter?
Technically it’s not a monopoly. There is more than one public broadcasting company. It’s just that no one watches ATV so TVB has a virtual monopoly. The question is whether having more tv stations will hurt the HK television industry in the long run. There are only 7 million people in HK and having too many stations may result in all the TV stations failing. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. For now I think they should just grant them and see what happens.
thanks for the insight, Ric!
@Ric,
Do you consider Microsoft a monopoly? 🙂
I would have consider Microsoft a “virtual monopoly” in computer operating systems in the 90s, but since the rise of Apple I wouldn’t even call it a virtual monopoly anymore. Apple has chipped away at Microsoft’s market share and Google is also doing the same thing to Microsoft in other areas like web browser. Today it’s definitely not a monopoly but an argument could be made that it was in the 90s.
Yes (thanks for clarifying), I meant back when the lawsuit was taking place (not now). Glad that we agree that a company can be a monopoly even though there may be other competitor(s).
@Ric,
Do you consider Microsoft a monopoly? 🙂
HKTV needs a plan B. I doubt the government will grant 3 licenses.
WTG HKTV!!
One step closer to becoming a major player and forcing TVB to improve or become the new ATV!