Troubled Hong Kong broadcaster ATV has FINALLY paid its staff thousands of dollars in outstanding wages. It’s amazing what selling a bit of random farmland can do, ins’t it?
Why ATV has a bit of random farmland is anyone’s guess, but it seems it might have saved the company’s socks in the short term at least, as all outstanding salaries for December and January have now been paid.
Happy New Year (other New Year and Christmas), guys!
The fire sale of the farmland is said to have brought ATV HKD10 million, while the channel also got a extra bump after the son of screenwriter Stephen Shiu Yeuk-Yuen recently bought back the rights to 29 soap operas, including Crocodile Tears and Reincarnated, produced for the channel in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The broadcaster, which was established in 1957 as the world’s first Chinese TV station, was handed down a fine of HKD380,000 last week after to top exec pleaded guilty to 38 counts of failing to pay staff.
The probe is continuing, while Hong Kong’s Department of Justice and Labour Department are still to decide whether to prosecute further.
Photo: Alex Bartok
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