TVB Management Reacts to Public Criticism
Above: TVB management celebrate the 46th TVB Anniversary Gala.
TVB is finally taking steps to address the relentless public backlash in the aftermath of the free-to-air TV license controversy. On November 18, TVB General Managers Mark Lee (李寶安) and Cheng Shin Keong (鄭善強) invited media executives to a luncheon to speak their minds about some of the groundless hatred directed at their company.
After Ricky Wong’s (王維基) HKTV failed to obtain a free-to-air TV license in October, the public took to the streets to demand an explanation. Fueled by Hong Kong’s turbulent social and political landscape, many locals took the opportunity to express their displeasure towards the government.
As a corporate giant that enjoys monopolistic authority over Hong Kong’s TV industry, TVB suddenly found itself a target of the mob’s animosity. Netizens were quick to mock the station’s production quality, turning unpopular shows and catchphrases into sarcastic memes. Some seem intent on bringing the company down altogether, rallying their peers to turn off the TV on the night of the TVB Anniversary Gala in an attempt to lower ratings and scare away sponsors.
While the media attempted to portray all sides in equal light, some members are particularly outspoken against TVB, publishing a large amount of opinionated content that, to the company, is borderline slander. Mr. Lee feels that these malicious reports are “organized, purposeful attempts to target TVB.” The management team has decided to take legal action and will pursue other means to protect TVB’s brand and clear its name.
Although viewers frequently complained about TVB series’ poor production value, Mr. Lee insists that the quality has remained consistent and described the difficulties in pleasing multiple demographics. To entertain its broad spectrum of viewers, TVB has plans to transform J2 into a more youth-oriented station, and will produce a reality show to nurture young entrepreneurs. The company will also expand its online presence via streaming platform MyTV, hoping to take part in the growing mobile culture.
For its loyal fans, TVB will release GoldTV, a premium service model that will launch before January 1. For $59 HKD a month or $500 HKD a year, subscribers will be able to access over 13,000 hours of classic dramas and variety shows on demand; its selection will rotate per a regular schedule.
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Katrine for JayneStars.com.
Why would anyone pay to watch old TVB dramas when they can access Chinese media websites and watch all their shows for free?
Also, the younger generation has already moved on. Too little too late, TVB.
It’s a sinking ship.
People are not that inclined to use those websites like most would think. Just look at Netflix. For years they just allowed people to watch old shows and now it’s ushering in a new era in television. It’s possible TVB could do the same in HK since they have the biggest Cantonese library.
Did you read the article at all?
GoldTV is NOTHING like Netflix. Sure, it’s on-demand, but “its selection will rotate per a regular schedule.”
So you only get a handful of shows that you can choose to watch from on a weekly basis. On Netflix, you can access over 500,000 shows and movie, when you want and how you want.
Also, GoldTV is $10USD/month, for an inferior, dumb-down, single-entertainment service. Netflix is far more comprehensive and has a way bigger library . so please don’t compare the two. It’s like comparing a Honda Civic to a Ferrari Enzo.
Dude, not ALL old TVB dramas you can watch online, & I know a lot of ppl likes to watch old dramas. & I agree with Ric , it is like Netflix ppl still pay for it -___-
Nor can you watch ALL OLD TVB dramas with GoldTV neither.
“its selection will rotate per a regular schedule.”
Yeah, good luck waiting 6 months until you can catch that one old TVB drama series that you’ve been chasing to watch. LOL
TVB is a joke!
as will says, this service isnt comparable to netflix. im not sure why they didnt just have the complete library on demand rather than a selection rotation. guess they want people to wait around for their series and pay more
Does anybody know the ratings for the Gala Show? Wonder if the “turn off the tv” campaign affected it…
Average 29 points, peak 31. 5 points. So does TVB make the donation or not?
I’m not sure what the ratings normally are for the Anniversary Gala, but I think 29 points is pretty good, considering most dramas don’t even average that much nowadays.
Update: TVB announced donation of 3,100,000 HKD to charities
Last year 31. The highest year was 36 average.
Definitely low for Anniversary Gala standards, but then again, all of TVB’s programs (including series) have had low ratings the past 2 years, so I guess 29 points is considered decent by today’s standards.
Well, at least TVB is still holding up their side of the bargain and donating money to charity….
too bad, i had like to see nat chan kneels to home.
Wow , so I guess not many ppl turn off their tv . I guess hk ppl are a little too hypocritical.
Actually per this news report, this year rating is the lowest with the past 10 years. So whether the boycott lowered the rating, or just low ratings all around this year.
Ratings past 10 years (highest/avg)
03年 (37/35)
04年 (39/35)
05年 (36/35)
06年 (40/35)
07年 (41/37)
08年 (37/34)
09年 (38/35)
10年 (38/35)
11年 (34/31)
12年 (36/34)
13年 (31/29)
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/enews/realtime/20131120/51918930
That looks like stock market crash…. TVB is doing a-okay!
I think the stupid “turn off the tv” campaign by the netizen is an idiotic and a childish behaviour. It is also ruining hong kong’s image.
Netizens not happy, is forcing the others to be unhappy as well, it is a shameful behaviour.
do they have any important things to do than just sit there nitpicking and sticking their eyes on the screen???
The problem is that many people are armchair detectives and think they know more than others in this case TVB management. They think that running a big company is the same as selling fish balls by the road side.
Those armchair detectives are not only idiotic, but they are the weird people who don’t socialize with the real world and always stays in their lala land
I don’t see how this is hurting Hong Kong’s image. These people had a beef with TVB and chose the best way to deal with it, IMHO, by not watching. It sends a clear signal to TVB that people aren’t happy.
This is the BEST way to protest. It doesn’t impact anyone at all… if you wanted to watch, you could without issue.
The idiotic way is to protest. It is really a waste of time. Of course it is ruining Hong Kong’s image as well. There are people who are turning off their tv (which I don’t f care about that) and people that are standing infront of the tv station throwing stuffs at staffs, which definitely impacted alot of people. This is such a childish behaviour that they should go back to k school.
Thank god I am not a hong konger.
agreed, don’t think it harms hong kong’s image at all, more like it helps show that people in hong kong won’t take perceived injustice lying down. if they shouldnt protest, can you suggest a way that they could get their message across?
The problem with being consistent like how the management replied is if it was bad before, it is now consistently bad, isn’t it?
Anyway the title and the contents of the article can be summed up as follows:-
“TVB Management Reacts to Public Criticism : “I WILL SUE YA!””
It would be hard to prove in court 😛
I support that TVB should sue them
GoldTV is a good idea, and I’ve been hoping that TVB would set up something like this — an online streaming service where you could watch their old serials on-demand, but I think they should just make everything available instead of having a rotating schedule. Their library of classic dramas are their greatest asset, imo.
Do you have concrete evidence to prove that TVB have back door dealings with HK government to reject HKTV license application? If you have please submit to the authorities in HK otherwise what you post here is nonsense and a case of libel.
You gotta chill bro . Life moves on, and they need to move on as well.
yeah, they should just move on and stop doing such ridiculous things. those hk people should be sent to prison for tossing the stupid stuff in the front of the station, or be fined.
How would they feel if others threw the same thing at their front door. They are hopeless
agree. hong kong people have to much grudges for everything including high prices on properties, high inflation rate, high living standards.tOO MUCH STRESS FOR THEM….I suggest they should immigrate
Who doesn’t have stress in this world, but those hong kong people should just pull themselves together and stop letting it out on other people
they are weak and couldn’t cope with stress
I know of few fb pages that apparently tried to spread to others to turn off the tv:(
These people are only trying to get attention themselves. If fact, TBH, I didn’t know there was the Anniversary Gala until I saw it from that page that told netizens to turn off the tv. To me they are also some sort of “promoting” and telling people that There’s that show on tv.
To sum up,I think those netizens are wasting their time doing useless stuff.
GO TVB, I SUPPORT YOU!
p.s.Im from overseas, not hk
I support tvb too. Those idiotic netizen think that they can tell other what to do, if they only eat, sleep and stare at the screen 24/7. Like WTF, get a life and go back to reality if they have one. They are wasting their time and life
Yeah, it is getting ridiculous. Some people went to TVB and were tossing the dead man’s money (white paper) in the front while TVB was holding the gala. It’s not TVB’s fault that the license didn’t get issued, they should blame the government for their incompetence.
You’re really naive if you didn’t think TVB had their hand in it at all. LOL
If you can have an ounce of proof that TVB has a hand in the decision I would be happy to eat every single word I said. If you are just spitting out nothing but ‘guess work’ from your own imagination, then I suggest you do a bit of reading and educate yourself regarding this topic before making a fool out of yourself by making ignorant comments.
For anybody that thinks a company like TVB has the ability to affect the decision made by Beijing is just beyond me. TVB is a very insignificant company in Beijing’s eyes. If TVB had as much power as some of you thinks, then the other two licenses wouldn’t even be licensed.
youre right about there being no proof in tvb influencing the granting of licences but to say that it is not a powerful company is wrong. tvb holds a massive market share in tv broadcasting and is most likely able to influence the population if it chose to. this is evident in the criticism the company received for self censorship issues back in 2009