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ATV Home

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ATV Home
亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し本港ほんこう台だい
CountryChina
Broadcast areaHong Kong, Macau, China (Original version)
Worldwide (International version)
North America (America version)
Programming
Language(s)Cantonese
Picture format576i (PAL) 4:3
576i (SDTV) 16:9
Ownership
OwnerAsia Television
Sister channelsATV World
History
Launched29 May 1957; 67 years ago (1957-05-29)
Closed2 April 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04-02)
Replaced byATV Overseas Channel (America)
RTHK TV 31A (analogue service)
Links
WebsiteHKatv.com/Home

ATV Home (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し本港ほんこう台だい) was a free-to-air Cantonese television channel in Hong Kong, owned and operated by Asia Television. It was formed in September 1963 as a result of the split of the bilingual Rediffusion Television subscription service (which was primarily owned by British company Rediffusion) into dedicated Cantonese and English-language services. In 1969, the broadcaster was granted a license for over-the-air broadcasting.

Facing heavy competition from its free-to-air competitor TVB Jade, a change in ownership in 2010 and an attempt to cut back on dramas in favour of more current affairs, news, and talk programming resulted in further financial losses and internal conflicts.[1] Owing to ATV's deterioration and other issues, on 31 March 2015 ATV's over-the-air broadcasting license was revoked effective 2 April 2016; the channel signed off shortly before midnight on 1 April 2016, and was replaced on analogue transmission by RTHK TV 31.[2][3][4]

History[edit]

Rediffusion Television[edit]

ATV Home, in addition to Asia Television's history, traces back to Rediffusion Television, which was Hong Kong's first television service. The service launched on 29 May 1957, and a subscription fee of HK$25 was required to watch programming, which was considered to be expensive at the time.

On 30 September 1963, Rediffusion launched its Cantonese service, and the channel was christened "Rediffusion Television Cantonese Channel" (Chinese: 麗うらら的てき映うつ聲こえ中ちゅう文台ぶんだい). This would lay the groundwork for what will eventually become ATV Home.

On 1 February 1967, the channel was renamed "RTV-1" (Chinese: 麗うらら的てき一いち台だい).

On 10 November 1969, Rediffusion was granted a free-to-air television broadcasting license for RTV-1, in addition to its English sister channel RTV-2 (Chinese: 麗うらら的てき二に台だい). However, RTV was beaten to launch by a competitor, Television Broadcasts Limited. This late arrival would have a major negative impact on new service's viewership, up until its eventual demise in 2016.

Asia Television[edit]

On 24 September 1982, Rediffusion Television was bought out by a locally owned enterprise called Far East Group (Chinese: 遠東とおひがし機構きこう). The new owner renamed Rediffusion to Asia Television, and consequently, the channel was renamed "ATV Cantonese" (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し中ちゅう文台ぶんだい).

On 2 February 1987, the channel was again renamed, to "ATV Gold" (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し黃金おうごん台だい).

Far East Group eventually sold its ATV holdings to local conglomerate Lai Sun Group, and the channel was renamed on 13 February 1989, to "ATV Home" (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し本港ほんこう台だい). In 2015, former ATV executive Selina Chow revealed that the station's new name was supposed to be "ATV Hong Kong" (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し香港ほんこん台だい), but the station was forced to scrap the name, in favor of ATV Home (Chinese: 亞あ洲しゅう電でん視し本港ほんこう台だい),[5] after Secretary for Administrative Services and Information Peter Tsao opposed the name.[6]

In September 2015, ATV planned to rebrand the channel as ATV-1 Hong Kong (Chinese: 亞あ視し一いち台だい 香港ほんこん);[7] the plan came to a premature end due to the end of its license.

Competitive disadvantage[edit]

Due to its relatively late arrival as a free-to-air Cantonese-language TV station, lesser known actors and lower operating budgets, ATV Home struggled to compete with its Cantonese rival TVB Jade. While the station's programs did, on occasions, lowered TVB's ratings, TVB always managed to eventually regain the lost ratings.

Programming[edit]

Although less popular or numerous than TVB drama series, ATV-produced dramas are still well received. Some have attained popular and critical acclaim, such as Crocodile Tears (鱷魚淚なみだ), Fatherland (大地だいち恩情おんじょう), The Legendary Fok (大だい侠霍元甲もとこう), Central Affairs I and II (情じょう陷おちい夜中よなか環たまき) and Reincarnated (天蠶てんさん變へん). Recent productions of note include The Pride of Chao Zhou (我わが來らい自じ潮うしお州しゅう), Who is the Winner? (勝者しょうしゃ為ため王おう), King of the Gambler (千王之王重出江湖) and The Good Old Days (再さい見み艷つや陽ひ天てん).

In recent years ATV has created and hosted certain large-scale award shows, the most well-known of which would probably be The Annual Most Popular TV Commercial Awards (十大電視廣告頒獎禮).

Other 'infotainment' programmes like Stories From Afar (尋ひろ找他鄉たきょう的てき故事こじ) are ranked highly by public reviews, such as the Appreciation Index Survey Best Television Awards (香港ほんこん電でん視し節目ふしめ欣賞指數しすう).

Some ATV programmes, such as the entertainment news show Hong Kong Today (今日きょう睇真D) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (百ひゃく萬まん富とみ翁おきな), have proven to be particularly popular, prompting their rival TVB to offer similar shows, such as Focus On Focus (城市じょうし追擊ついげき) and Weakest Link (一いち筆ぴつOUT消けし), respectively.

Well-known programmes[edit]

Drama series[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Chow, Vivienne (29 March 2015). "Wong Ching, the leading man in ATV's sorry drama". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. ^ "Farewell ATV as its survival fight ends". The Standard. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  3. ^ "ATV, World's Oldest Chinese TV Channel, Closes Down". Variety. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Hong Kong Government Strips ATV of Broadcast License". Variety. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  5. ^ In Hong Kong parlance, the word "本港ほんこう" is a way to say "香港ほんこん". Literally, "本港ほんこう" means "this Hong Kong", referring to the city as a whole.
  6. ^ TVB News program "News Magazine", in an episode that aired on 4 April 2015.
  7. ^ 葉は家寶かほう稱しょう已やめ獲え批准ひじゅん調整ちょうせい亞あ視し現有げんゆう頻しき道みち申請しんせい Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine，ATV News，29 September 2015
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