Written by: Roshan Dwivedi
In recent months, the Hong Kong TV market has seen a lot of breaking news. LeTV announced a new TV rights deal with the English Premier League, US online video on demand streaming service Netflix said it will come to Hong Kong next year and Forever Top (Asia) Ltd. invested HK$4.1 billion (US$529 million) in a new TV network.
And don’t forget ATV, whose license will expire in six months. It found a “white knight” and got a HK$10 billion lifeline. Although TVB’s market dominance is unlikely to change anytime soon, competition will become increasingly fierce with more players coming on stream.
It’s ironic that in 2013, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government will not issue more than two new TV licenses out of concern that too many competitors might lead to cutthroat competition and undermine the overall quality of productions. However, after the High Court ruled in favor of HKTV in April in a challenge to the Executive Council’s decision to reject its application for a free-to-air license, the way is clear for more participants.
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