NowTV Has Sights on TVB Artists
NowTV is looking to recruit some of TVB’s top artists to help launch their new free-to-air TV station, Hong Kong Television Entertainment.
A winner in the recent TV license fight, nowTV is geared up to kick-start their own drama productions. Recent rumors alleged that the company is thinking about poaching established artists from TVB. Among the many possible targets, first-line actors Moses Chan (陳豪), Raymond Lam (林峯), and Ron Ng (吳卓羲) have likely been approached since their TVB management contracts are set to expire next year.
Moses, who is currently in negotiations regarding a contract renewal, claims that he will give TVB priority though has yet to make a firm decision. A soon-to-be dad, Moses is working hard to earn money for his family and is interested in the popular Mainland market.
According to a source, Moses has been requesting TVB to give him more opportunities to expand his career in China but was repeatedly turned down. Mainland companies Huayi Brothers, and Hai Run Movies & TV Production have reportedly reached out to the two-time TV King. Moses’s mentors, former TVB producers Lau Kar Ho (劉家豪) and Mui Siu Ching (梅小青), have also tried to entice Moses to switch loyalty with a per-series contract.
Lau and Mui’s other beloved actor, Raymond Lam, is also considering different options. Raymond has been rumored to leave TVB ever since he lost the TV King title during 2012’s TVB Anniversary Awards. This year, he has disappeared from the TV screen altogether, opting to focus on his film and music careers.
Deeply in love, Raymond has been open to making film appearances alongside girlfriend Karena Ng (吳千語). Earlier, there were rumors that he may be signing with Karena’s management company, Raymond Wong Bak Ming’s (黃百鳴) Pegasus Entertainment. Reports this week claimed that Raymond is instead going with Paco Wong’s (黃柏高) Sun Entertainment Culture.
Although he has a starring role in this summer’s hit Triumph in the Skies 2 <衝上雲霄 II>, Ron Ng’s TVB career seems to have stalled, making him yet another easy target for nowTV. According to rumors, Ron has already decided that he will not renew his TVB contract, and seems agitated about the lack of opportunities. At a recent banquet celebrating Triumph in the Skies 2‘s success, Ron bluntly said, “I didn’t even want to come at all!” when confronted about his late arrival. Although he has recently invaded the Mainland market, nowTV may be able to refresh his career and reinvent his public image closer to home.
Source: Face Magazine via ihktv.com
This article is written by Katrine for JayneStars.com.
I thought tavia would also be on this list since her contract is ending soon, plus she’s frequently cast on miu and lau’s productions. Guess not?
Hope none of these guys leave! Love all of them 🙂
LF,please leave tbb and sign with pegasus. please don’t sign with paco because he abandoned LF ‘s before in 2001 .
Agree…Wish LF the best…whatever he choose…just not TVB…
damm all my favorite guys are leaving. IM SO disappoint.
IK it is very sad if all 3 of them leave or even anyone of them.
Hope NowTV as agresive as HKTV
No wonder Moses Chan hot favorite to win TVB King , but he seems prefer to become coffee King than TVB King ?
I thought Ron already renewed his contract recently?
I thought Ron’s contract wasn’t set to expire until at least a few years? Besides in a recent interview he stated he wanted more opportunities at TVB, I don’t think he’ll leave compared to the other two he’s the least likely one to go.
Also, I thought TITS2 gave his career a boost and he’s been getting significant lead roles again. Perhaps he didn’t want to come to the dinner, but that could have been for many other reasons that contract related issues.
I’ve surprised about Moses. Always thought he liked things stable and would prefer the HK market where he has an establish base. Especially now that he’s going to be a father.
Now at all surprised by LF. Imo, he’s only hung around because of loyalty and because he has the loosest leash of everyone. Considering that he didn’t have any shows at all this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s truly had enough of TVB too.
I think Ron’s contract end in 2014 and agree with advo Ron was awesome in Tits II
Every time i read about how yet another member of the cast of Ruse of Engagement is leaving TVB, my hopes of watching it fades further :'(
AGREE
Of course he’s not happy abt TITS 2 cos someone else is hogging the limelight.
Yeah that’s obvious dude……….. I know that raymond lam had lost since he didn’t get a award at the tvb anniversary 2012 how sad 🙁
Yeah Raymond lam just suddenly disappeared out of the tv screen………….I really miss Raymond lam on tvb………….hong kong……………….:(
He has just been on Txb screen until few days ago on a TV series :P.
He filmed 3 TV series continuously which are aired or going to be aired. Next year, maybe in few month’s time, you’ll see him on… NowTV :P.
Which 3 series Raymond going be in only heard of 1 the one where Raymond is a undercover cop or a bad cop.
Tat undercover cop is simply a Txb Sale presentation clip, he has never confirmed his participant in the actual series (planned to start in Jan 2014).
His 3 series are all China series: Loved in the purple (aired), Detective and Doctor (going to air in spring next year) and The Virtuous Queen of Han (going to air in Feb or Mar next year). The Virtuous Queen of Han is the one tat going to be aired on NowTV.
But Ron ng is quite good actor. In the triumph in the skies ii……… I think he is quite good in acting I count on him………….
yeah ron is a good actor he has shown he is capable on taking on anyrole
Yea Ron is a great actor and I hope he doesn’t leave. He still didn’t win a Tvb King award yet.
i’ve never seen triumph in the skies II (i don’t think i’ll ever will) but i don’t find him a good actor. he’s characters are always annoying and still wooden/no facial expressions.
I almost forgot about NowTV since everyone was focusing on HKTV and why they did not get a license. I wonder if the ones that were laid off at HKTV can join NowTV or not?? I still wonder how NowTV got their license but HKTV did not.. I guess none of us will ever know.
In my opinion, NowTV and I-cable have longer preparation than HKTV. They ran as paid TV for years while HKTV is a newbie with the only aim to get free TV license. The capital/budget of Now TV and I-cable seem to be stronger.
Btw, NowTV hired Txb’s artists and collaborated with China company for their first series. They invested well in it as it looks pretty grand. So maybe they will continue the collaboration with China, means they might not been interested in HKTV’s people (as they does things in China).
HKTV people(former TxB staff) prefer to NowTV as Chinese saying “A Good Horse Will Never Return to Graze on Grass that It Has Already Passed by”
Me too I forgot about NowTv
you know what i notice in a good series ron, raymond and moses does a really goof job in playing their character but in a bad series these guys do a pretty bad job kinda funny all 3 of these guys are considered good actors
Nowtv has siu ching and lau kar ho? Yes!! I love all their producrions especially heart of greed and moonlight resonance
Well, there is competition in HK’s TV industry after all and HKTV is not the only show in town.
Its totally fine if all of them leaves. I really dont like Moses. He can’t act.
Tvb needs to bring Andrew Hoi Lin back. At least he’s good looking and his cantonese is not bad.
LOL never even heard of Andrew Hoi Lin. And really you don’t care that all 3 of them are leaving each one of them are a great actor.
Hmmm…I find it ironic that so many people were ‘bashing’ Ricky Wong and hoping that he wouldn’t get a license because he committed the ‘grave sin’ of poaching TVB’s artists and crew, yet other stations do it and it’s all of a sudden ‘okay’. Let’s be real here — poaching of people from other companies is not uncommon, neither is it such a ‘grave’ issue in the business (and entertainment) world. In fact, TVB’s founder, Sir Run Run Shaw, did the exact same thing back in the late 60s when he started his television empire (if you compare some of his tactics back then with some of Ricky Wong’s tactics today, you’ll find that they weren’t much different)…so basically, let’s not put anyone on a pedastal here because it’s obvious that every station has used the poaching tactic at some point…it’s pretty much the way things are done nowadays.
Agree that every new TV station would poach new artistes like HKTV. Some just did it quietly like NowTV, while HKTV did it very loudly.
I believe that there should be some politics involved with the Mainland Chinese Government. Perhaps Ricky Wong (HKTV) was not a big favour of the Chinese Government, and, as a result, free TV licence was not granted to HKTV.
Yes, it’s probably the way HKTV and NowTV handles their poaching tactics differently and also the timing.
There is nothing wrong in providing better offers to get people from other companies and it does reflect better on NowTV to become more aggressive in their hiring after they receive their license.
Perhaps NowTV can also consider giving employment opportunities to some of those 300+ who have been laid off by HKTV, if they are deemed suitable.
It is true that recruiting from competitors is a common practice but wholesale raiding them is an ethically questionable matter. It is all about intention.
The former, which is what Now TV, now a legitimate TV network, appears to be doing is all about getting the best resource it could to further its own goal while the latter aiming to destroy, or at least substantially weaken the infra-structures of the rivals, which was Wong’s obvious goal.
Another key difference is at present Now TV is a legitimate concern licensed to operate in the industry. When Wong was pulling his tricks, all he had was money and a concept which he hoped to use the former to cover up the potential risk of the latter.
Wish Raymond sign a best management…not back to TVB…it seems does not promote him very well…
I’m starting to like Ron after TITS and now he is leaving noooo. Who care about LF and moses they can just leave.
Agree with you but Moses has done some funny series and Raymond is a good singer.
I don’t mind any of the top artists leaving for nowTV. I only hope that nowTV will film in Cantonese. I want there to be competition and in glad nowTV is thinking of producing more series, but I won’t be watching if I have to listen to dubbed voices. It’s just not the same.
ron raymond and bosco are so underated these guys only lead in a small buget series anything else mainly supporting i guess ron fans are the best they go crazy when ron not getting much work
True that I notice that Ron Ray and Bosco only get small budget series nothing too expensive or big where they have old veterans to come as 2nd main or supporting.
Only with Txb they are treated so :). One reason is the gang of Sandy Yu and Catherine Tsang (obviously those 3 are the suspects that Catherine Tsang wanna aim)
I hope they will entice Sammul to come back. I miss him in Cantonese series.
Can they recruit artists like Nancy Wu and Elaine Yiu and give them lead roles please?
I doubt it with Producers Lau Kwok Ho and Mui Siu Ching. If they were willing to promote Nancy Wu and Elaine Yiu, these two actresses should be 1st lead ones before now.
I agree that Ron Ng did a marvelous job as Isaac Tong in Triumph in the Skies 2, but it’s very difficult to shine in a big production like that because his role remains dwarfed by the major leads, ie. Francis and Chilam/Julian’s characters. I hope he renews with TVB because he should have more opportunity now that his peers are crossing over to other stations.
Agree its really hard to outshine those 2