Chinese authorities have granted ATV, Hong Kong's second-largest
free-to-air television network, the right to broadcast to Guangdong
Province.
The approval would make ATV the fourth non-mainland TV network to
broadcast legally into the economically booming Pearl River Delta
in Guangdong. ATV is now in talks with Guangdong's state
broadcasting bureau and the Guangdong Cable TV network over details
of the deal.
The company's ATV Home and ATV World channels will be carried by
the Guangdong Cable TV network, ATV Chief Executive Chan Wing-kee
said in a statement.
"This approval is a major breakthrough for ATV," Chan said.
The approval comes two months after Liu Changle, a Chinese mainland
businessman and former publicity official in the People's
Liberation Army, became ATV's controlling shareholder with a 46
percent stake.
Liu is already chairman of Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings,
the first non-mainland network to be permitted to broadcast on the
mainland.
The new arrangement is likely to boost ATV's revenues by enabling
it to tap into the rapidly growing advertising market on the
mainland, giving it an edge over rival TVB, the dominant network in
Hong Kong. Both broadcast via two channels, one in the local
Cantonese dialect and the other in English and Mandarin.
Television Broadcasts nevertheless welcomed the news as a sign
China is opening its television market, the world's largest, and
giving formal access to programs that many Guangdong residents
already watch in pirated form.
"This is very positive news," said Steven Chan, a spokesman for
Television Broadcasts.
"This shows China is formally recognizing the intellectual
rights."
Television Broadcasts is also talking to mainland authorities about
landing rights, Chan said.
Asia Television's Chan said that he will negotiate with the
Guangdong broadcasting bureau on how to increase the company's
share of advertising revenue in the province.
He
estimated that total advertising revenue in Guangdong will exceed 4
billion yuan (US$483 million) this year, of which about 600 million
yuan is generated by Asia Television programs that are pirated by
rogue cable operators who put in their own advertisements.
(eastday.com August 20,
2002)