ATV Attempts to Recover with Discounted Ads
Above: ATV executive director, Ip Ka Po, reveals the station is trying all means possible to pay its staff their wages.
Struggling with financial problems and on the brink of collapse, ATV announced that it plans to sell discounted television advertisement packages. The station will offer advertisement spots on TV for an all-time low of $500 HKD for five seconds of commercial time. The longer the advertisement, the steeper the discount.
Before hitting its financial slump, ATV charged a five-figure sum for a 30-second commercial. On the other hand, a primetime ad on TVB can cost from $80,000 HKD to well over $100,000 HKD for a 30 second spot.
ATV spokesperson Wong Sau Tung (黃守東) confirmed that while ATV plans to release discounted ad packages, the proposal is currently in its planning stages and will need to conform to Hong Kong’s Broadcasting Ordinance.
In addition to the steeply discounted TV spots, ATV also attempted to improve its financial condition by teaming up with a Mainland Chinese travel agency to offer cheap tours of its Tai Po filming studios to Chinese tourists, costing only a meager 198 RMB ($248 HKD) per person. The agency later revealed that the tour was canceled as not enough people signed up.
Owing its staff salaries, ATV only paid its workers half of their November wages in late December. On November 7, ATV paid its 700 staff members the remainder of their November wages. To thank the workers who have stayed with the station, ATV is considering sponsoring lunch for the staff six days a week. In addition, ATV is planning on a fundraising concert.
ATV’s executive director Ip Ka Po (葉家寶) accepted a radio interview yesterday, revealing that they are trying every means possible to raise funds. The company is currently rounding up resources to pay its workers their December wages.
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Not to be mean, they gotta look at the fact and reality, I wouldn’t even pay a penny since no one literally watches ATV anymore in HK, what’s the point of promoting on that station. Viewers all tune in for TVB and cable networks.
why are they even still around, do they even do anything?
poor atv. i am rewatching their dramas for the 90s and have to say they are of very good quality, both plot and actors wise. i wish they can recapture their glory days but it seems an impossible feat, with even tvb averaging 25 pts in rating. i watch all my series online now. it seems hopeless for them.
They are now even selling 10,75% shares for sale for any interested buyers.
It seems hopeless to me, without a new owner very soon it will go bankrupt very soon. There are not many assets left they can sell.
I love ATV old dramas – they were good and its sad to hear this news. HKTV should have took over ATV instead of waiting for the license
HKTV won’t take over ATV. Ricky Wong is not on good terms with them.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Wong_%28Hong_Kong_businessman%29
“On 3 December Linus Cheung originally hired Ricky Wong to be the new ATV chief executive.On 4 December, it was announced that both of them would lead the TV station’s reform. .. After just 2 weeks Ricky Wong was resigned from his ATV position. Wong himself had denied that he had ever quit the position. His position at ATV lasted only 12 days.”
In the business world, enemies don’t last forever. If both parties can put their differences aside, and focus on the bigger issue. It can benefit all parties. I can see Ricky Wong stepping in at the right time to purchase ATV and re-brand the entire company, with new blood and a new direction. Ricky Wong has said in the past that he’s not interested in buying ATV. I believe that’s not entirely true, and he will if the opportunity is right. With that said, I cannot imagine the government will ever allow this transaction to happen. Don’t forget that this transaction will need to be approved by the HK government, so unless the buyer is Pro-Beijing. There’s pretty much zero chance that Ricky will end up with ATV.
The thing is, Ricky Wong is pro-Beijing. He used to be a member of the liberal party, was a member of the Chinese people political conference committee and even Gregory So and a few party members of the DAB turned up at hktvs launch. It’s just that his drama series are more realistic and talk about the current issues facing Hong Kong’s society, which is more than what TVB do who just sugar coat things.
sad it has come to this….
He looks like the tvb actor in Come Home Love. The boss they are trying to keep mysterious at the law firm. Weird script.
Well, they are definitely getting desperate. Those Deloitte guys assigned to “fix” ATV just announced that they are going to try attracting investors by selling shares, but any interested investors have to pay a non-refundable “fee” of HK$500,000 upfront to even look at ATV’s books – I don’t know who in their right minds would pay that amount of money just so they can look at ATV’s financial records and see how screwed up they truly are! At least with the cheap ads, there’s some chance that they can make a little bit of money, though probably not enough to pay their employees.
Oh and hello, why hasn’t the government gone after them yet? This is the 4th month that ATV hasn’t been able to pay their employees timely (they were late 2 other months last year too) and chairman Ip Kar Po is in front of the camera practically every day begging people for money, so obviously they’ve got major sustainability issues. What is the government waiting for? An invitation?
I guess the government is waiting for a new buyer to take over the shares of the current shareholders with the promise they will renew the TV license if that is happening. Or else, nobody is stupid enough to buy the shares. Besides, a lot of people will lose their jobs if ATV is going bankrupt and the chances they will find a new job very soon is slim, because other TV stations are not really waiting to hire new people and the government does not want to see that.
Until then, ATV seems to be doing everything they can to get money to pay the loans of the employees by selling assets and having very cheap ads fees.
According to reports, the major stockholder is asking too much money for their stocks at the moment, so basically the major stockholder does not mind at all that ATV is going bankrupt very soon.
Off topic: another major talking point in HK these days is the new TVB travel program “Seoul searching” aired 10.30 PM. I would love to see an article about this topic.
If any maverick person can save ATV, he/she will be famous.
@Kidd…..Ricky Wong? Do u think he is the maverick & knight in shining armour?