Topping off a turbulent week of rumours and denials, it seems ATV’s end is getting closer and closer, after the Hong Kong government pulled the plug on its free-to-air licence.
Asia Television, the first Chinese television station in the world, has been in deep water for months, struggling to pay staff because of a massive drop in advertising and loss of viewers to the competition.
The government may now have finally put the nail in the coffin, refusing to renew its free-to-air licence yesterday, meaning that the broadcaster can only continue on air until April 1 2015.
However, whether they will even last that long is anyone’s guess.
Earlier in the week, ATV investor Wong Ching announced that he was to sell his controlling stake to Ricky Wong of rival HKTV.
However, after 13 hours of silence from both Wong and HKTV, the allegation was finally denied completely, leaving ATV back where it started, apart from a little jump in HKTV’s stock prices, of course.
According to the SCMP, former commerce minister Frederick Ma Si-hang said the Securities and Futures Commission may investigate a possible breach of law by ATV issuing false information.
As if they don’t have enough problems already!
