In addition to the royalty dispute with the Big 4 record companies that the company is still dealing with, there have also been reports lately that other TV stations are actively ‘poaching’ their artists as well as behind the scenes people. Following the departure of one of TVB’s top execs (Ho Lai Chuen, who was the former head of TVB’s non-drama production department) a few months ago, a group of scriptwriters also tendered their resignations a few days ago, causing a ‘leaving the nest’ syndrome within the company. Add to that the fact that various artists have publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the company, the most recent one being veteran ‘green leaf’ artist Lee Kwok Lun, who, after having served TVB for close to 30 years, recently criticized the company for its disregard and lack of respect toward veteran artists. As if that weren’t enough, a few of TVB’s ‘biological’ sons / daughters, such as Charmaine Sheh, Steven Ma, etc. have decided not to renew their contracts in favor of seeking better opportunities elsewhere [in the Mainland]. With all these issues brewing, it looks like the ‘television empire’s’ status as Number One Brother in the HK TV industry is in serious danger of collapsing.
Stephen Chan’s responsibilities completely restored
With the danger of losing many more employees a serious threat due to aggressive ‘poaching’ by newly formed free to air TV stations, TVB’s Vice-Chairman Mona Fong became gravely concerned and felt the need to take action in the hopes of salvaging the situation. Therefore, an emergency meeting of top management was called to discuss the situation. According to an inside source, Ms. Fong has appointed one of her ‘favorites’, GM Stephen Chan, to deal with the situation, despite his corruption case being in appeals status. It is said that Stephen’s responsibilities, a portion of which were suspended during the corruption trial, have been completed reinstated, including directly overseeing the Artists Department. In addition to the ‘official’ approval of Stephen Chan’s responsibilities being restored, it is reported that other topics of discussion during yesterday’s emergency meeting included the reports of ‘poaching’ by other companies, as well as the ‘problem’ of many artists expressing their discontent with TVB lately and refusing to renew their contracts. There are also rumors that an internal review of possible ‘mishandling’ of situations with artists was also discussed.
Virginia Lok: “There are no artists leaving!”
When asked about the situation, TVB’s director of foreign affairs Tsang Sing Ming confirmed to our reporter that Stephen Chan has officially taken over all of the responsibilities that he had previously [prior to the corruption scandal]. As for director of production and resources Virginia Lok, whose main responsibility is to oversee the Artists Department, she emphasized that the Artists Department has always been under Stephen Chan’s oversight: “Even though he did not participate directly in matters related to the artists when he returned last year, he did read all of the reports that were turned over to him from our meetings.” Ms Lok also confirmed that she has received notification of Stephen Chan officially taking over the Artists Department again: “Yes, in fact, I went up to meet with him earlier today. It’s actually better for me that he oversees the department again, as some situations can be resolved quicker.”
Due to ‘rumors’ that someone in management ‘will be held accountable’ for the recent flux of artists, behind the scenes people, and execs leaving the nest, the reporter asked Ms Lok if she was ‘questioned’ about the situation, to which she calmly replied: “There are no artists leaving!” (Some of the siu sangs have expressed the desire to leave?) “For first-line artists, contract negotiations can take a longer amount of time because the company needs to discuss with them their plans for the future and career development, so the renewal process generally takes longer.”
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