TVB Celebrity News

The government is about to issue new free-to-air TV licenses to three television stations, putting TVB under serious attack. Ricky Wong, the 'CityTelecom Devil' steps over to the television world and indirectly bashes TVB for producing garbage and have no sincerity. Yesterday the CityTelecom Devil invited 140 artists including Felix Wong and his daughter Adrian Wong, Maggie Cheung, Catherine Chau and Kelvin Kwan to take part in CityTelecom (CTI) 20th Anniversary celebration party. On stage, Ricky continued indirectly bashing TVB for not only producing shows that are garbage, but also shows no respect for their employees. Ricky said: "I really want to know what they are thinking. Respect is the most important in this industry. You have to understand how to respect everyone, don't give them garbage. The government should respect the television stations too and issue those licenses soon!"

Following his comment, Ricky led the large group of artists, producers and scriptwriters on a 'swear-in ceremony', where they all used water guns to spray at a television set which resembled TVB's mascot TVBuddy. It looks like CTI is 'opening fire' on TVB, Ricky said: "The water guns represent sufficient financial resources and strength, we will build a new world. We won't be like some TV stations, producing such programmes with no creativity." He also expressed his current productions are not 'serving up to the same old HK dramas', he boasted his productions are 'original' and the American TV series is their goal.


When speaking of TVB newcomer Jenny Lau, getting abused on the set by director Cheung Wing Ho? Ricky said: "If this type of situation happened at my company, I would be very upset because this violates our philosophy in management. Also, there will not be any members of the 'royal family' in CTI!" (*TN: He's referring to relatives of the executives b/c it was rumored Director Cheung was Catherine Tsang's relative.)

At the party, the hot topic was, who is going to be CTI's 'First Sister'. On stage, Felix Wong asked if Maggie Cheung is getting ready to have children? Maggie answered she's preparing for all aspects in life. She laughed: "I've already prepared for marriage and to have children 20 something years ago, but now I don't know if I can still have babies. My friends suggested I 'save eggs' (cryogenic storage of the ova), then I can still have babies later. I'm still thinking about it!"

Maggie's TVB series The Last Steep of Ascent is premiering next week. A photo of her as an old lady was released, but Maggie indirectly criticized that TVB's makeup doesn't work: "For that makeup to look like an old lady, I couldn't sleep for two straight nights. I hoped to be able to produce the effect, but unfortunately I wasn't too satisfied with the makeup. It turns out, just relying on glue doesn't work very well!" When Maggie was shooting this series, she promised producer Lee Tim Shing she would help with the promotions later, but TVB hasn't contacted her yet in regards to the series promotions.

In regards to Director Cheung Wing Ho's abusive behavior, Felix frankly expressed: "I knew Director Cheung back when he was still a PA. (Have you seen him scold people?) I saw him scold Charmaine Sheh, but she had high EQ and is very strong." Felix said if the director pushes the actress to the wall, just to show her how to do the scene, then that is just too over.

Yesterday Ricky Wong held the blessing ceremony for CTI new series Police Boundaries (警界線). The cast including Liu Kai Chi, Dominic Lam, Lawrence Chow and Leila Tong attended.

Ricky expressed CTI currently has enough series and variety shows in storage ready for CTI to begin operations next year, but he's in no rush. Regarding to his confidence in obtaining the free-to-air TV license, Ricky expressed: "We can definitely start operating next year because each our productions are on a HK$20 million budget, so I am very confident." It was rumored because the government keeps delaying the issue of the free-to-air TV license, iCable lost their exclusive rights to broadcast the London Olympics, which indirectly affects CTI's license issue? Ricky told the media not to pull two unrelated things together, don't make things that complicated.

In the series, Liu Kai Chi plays a big thief and will have a lot of scenes opposite of Dominic and Lawrence Chow. He said the new working environment brings new light. Before the series started, the cast and crew gathered to study the script together and took a course on gun shooting, which has never happened in TVB.

Leila reveals she signed a two year contract with CTI and this is her second series with CTI. This is her first time playing a policewoman, she expressed the series is male-oriented, so she'll have more time to look after her daughter.

Yesterday CTI held a press conference to introduc their three new series - Still Have Time to Love You Again (還來得及再愛你), Amazing Century (驚異世紀) and Fairytale Love Song 201314 (童話戀曲201314). The majority of CTI's artists are made up of former TVB artists including Bernice Liu, Sek Sau, Dominic Lam, Sin Ho Ying, Kwok Fung, Al Wai, Savio Tsang, Chan On Ying. Other artists include Danson Tang, Michelle Wai, Kelvin Kwan, William So and Jason Chan.

Estimated to have 700 employees by year end

CTI chairman Ricky Wong expressed the government is wrapping up with the procedures of issuing him a free-to-air television license. He has confidence he can get the approval for the license and hopes to have stock up on many TV series productions to start the new station. Currently, there are over 300 employees in CTI which includes both artists and behind-the-scenes crew. It is estimated that there will be 700 employees by the end of the year and 100 university graduates have been recruited for training on scriptwriting and directing.

Mr. Wong denied forcing Bernice Liu to get botox because he disliked her wide facial appearance. "Bernice is so beautiful, she makes people drool. Actually I have to get botox." Bernice expressed the topic of her thin face has not stopped since she debuted. Nowadays, she appears to have a chubby face on cameras, Bernice said: "A chubby face is more prosperous!"

William So will be participating in the musical Fairytale Love Song with Bernice and all of his costumes will be from his very own wardrobe: "CTI pays very well. I recommended inviting Mark Lui to produce the music for this musical and got approved. The work hours are comparable to Mainland's standards. There won't be overnight shooting. Ricky Wong's only requirement is that we are not allowed to be late."

Danson and Michelle are currently shooting for Still Have Time to Love You Again. The two had a kiss scene, and Danson asked the director on how the style of Hong Kong kisses are like? In the end, they decided on a "passionate kiss with movement". As the filming times goes until 3am, the two are still in their dreams, but there was feelings of embarrassment.

Noel Leung will be in the thriller Amazing Century, a story made up of several separate stories. She will go from 18 to 80 years old in the series, having 9 roles. "I have 9 husbands in the series, including Kwok Fung, Felix Lok and Lawrence Chow. Our bed scenes are kissing as we remove our clothes." Noel expressed she can go fully nude on her back, but that may be beyond the scope of television. Asked if her husband Gary Chan allows her to do so? "The media is stricter than my family!"

With this being a ‘war’, of course it’s standard to bring out the ‘weapons’ and battle it out to see who wins. However, since the 3 new free-to-air licenses have not been issued yet, it makes sense for the parties involved to keep their most ‘damaging’ weapons concealed, revealing just enough to gain the momentum they need – prior to the start of the ‘official’ war, they must first fight the smaller verbal and psychological battles in their efforts to establish their positions.

The three new ‘powers’ that will be entering the battle field – City Telecom, NowTV, and i-Cable – can be considered the ‘offensive’ in the impending war. In looking at the 3 companies, NowTV and i-Cable have the best advantage from a technology standpoint, however the company that has been making the most ‘noise’ at this juncture is definitely City Telecom, led by its chairman Ricky Wong -- this ‘General’ (Ricky Wong) has already been eagerly ‘marketing’ his aspirations to the world in the hopes of using the momentum to strengthen his camp. With this ‘war’ just getting started, which of the companies will truly have the strength and tenacity to remain until the end? In planning their offense, what ‘weapons’ will each of these company’s leaders utilize?

The 2 parties on the “defensive” in the impending war are of course the ‘lone powerhouse’ TVB and the ‘perpetually weak’ ATV. In the past few years, TVB has certainly encountered some challenges when it comes to defending its ‘powerhouse’ status: the aggressive poaching of its staff as well as the seemingly endless complaints about its unfair policies and politics have certainly had a significant impact on the station’s reputation. Given the circumstances, what steps are TVB taking to combat this crisis? And what about ATV? They may be backed into a corner right now, but with the other parties already taking action, they can’t continue to just sit back and observe – it’s time for them to fight back!

With the TV ‘war’ set to break out in the coming weeks, ND Daily’s reporter paid visits to each of the leaders and exclusively interviewed them about their plans for the upcoming battle, their ‘secret’ weapons, as well as their assessment of their opponents in the hopes of gaining some perspective on the anticipated battle. As for who will end up actually winning this war, audiences will have to wait and see….

.---.

City Telecom (CTI)

Chief Leader: Ricky Wong

Leader’s Background: City Telecom Limited’s founder and chairman; in the telecommunications business, he is known for being creative and not necessarily ‘playing by the rules’; when it comes to tactics, he’s good at ‘sidelining the ball’ and is an expert at battling adversity; nicknamed ‘telecom prodigy’.

Overall Strategy: Poach talent with the lure of big money; focus on creating high quality, ‘golden timeslot’ series.

Advantages: Massive wealth and bold language; rely on sincerity and high salaries to recruit personnel; artists have unrestricted freedom and are respected. Good at utilizing the Media to fight ‘verbal’ and ‘psychological’ battles; takes a high profile, ostentatious approach

Disadvantages: Most of the artists he ‘poached’ are not first-line siu sangs or fadans, so whether he will be successful in attracting audiences will depend on the overall final product. Also, his studio has not been built yet, so for the time being, filming locations will need to be rented.


Strategy 1: Poaching talent with the lure of high salaries: “Most important in the future development of television is people”

In today’s HK television industry, there isn’t a single person who does not know of Ricky Wong. He is a vigorously ambitious man who is intent on changing the landscape of the HK television industry and ‘rewriting’ all the current rules of the game. In September of last year (2011), Ricky Wong started his ‘poaching’ strategy by luring away dozens of TVB scriptwriters, copy editors, directors, and assistant directors with the promise of doubling their salaries; at the same time, he personally met with many of TVB’s siu sangs (male leads), fadans (female leads), green leaf (supporting) and ‘gam cho’ (elder) artists – in addition, he sent out mass text messages recruiting artists to join his company. Even though majority of the artists he was able to successfully ‘poach’ are green leaf or second/third line artists, his ‘mantra’ of allowing “unrestricted freedom” and the “freedom to appear on any TV station at any time” helped him to successfully attract popular middle-aged siu sangs and fadans – such as Felix Wong, Maggie Cheung, etc. – who did not want to be tied down to one TV station.

With every move designed to counter TVB, Ricky Wong held the groundbreaking ceremony for his new Television and Multi-media Center in Tseung Kwan O back on 2/24 and invited all of the former TVB artists who signed with him – such as Felix Wong, Maggie Cheung, Frankie Lam, Bernice Liu, etc. – to attend. By building his studios near TVB as well as ‘showing off’ the artists he was able to successfully sign, it seems like he is once again ‘flaunting’ his power in TVB’s face.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, ND Daily’s reporter got the chance to personally interview this ‘telecom prodigy’ and to better understand his strategy in the face of the war.

During the interview, Mr. Wong indicated that he is already seeing initial results from his ‘poaching’ strategy: “As of right now, we have already successfully signed 140 artists, with many them being first line as well as ‘talent path’ artists – by the end of the year, we are anticipating a total of 250 artists signed to our company. In addition, we have already put together a group of behind-the-scenes production and creative staff, consisting of approximately 180 people – many of them have already started work. By the end of March / beginning of April, CTI will start filming our very first television series.”

Indeed, the poaching strategy has been Ricky Wong’s most ‘damaging’ strategy against TVB to date, as it created a ‘hole’ in TVB’s creative team [aka scriptwriters], causing artists such as Wong Cho Lam, Damien Lau, etc. to have to step in and do screenwriting work, which ended up being a huge blow to the dignity of the remaining screenwriters at TVB. Even golden producer Lee Tim Sing has lamented about not being able to secure a female lead for his last series before retirement [the series “Detective Columbo”] and having to take care of all matters – big and small – all by himself due to the lack of personnel.

Discussing his philosophy when it comes to working with his people, Ricky Wong’s response seems to indirectly imply that TVB does not respect talent: “Actually, when it comes to development and growth of the television industry, the most important component is the ‘software’ – in this case, the ‘software’ is the ‘people’. Therefore, learning how to respect people is of the utmost importance.” Indeed, TVB does have a reputation of not valuing talents, especially the ‘non-biological’ ones – also, the numerous complaints and discontent with the low pay and long working hours were all reported on widely by the Media last year. So with this strategy, Ricky Wong took advantage of the timing [when discontent with TVB was at its peak], honed in on their weaknesses, and is now reaping the benefits.


Strategy 2: Reveal TVB’s weaknesses; speaks ‘boldly’: “We will be producing 3D TV programs in the future”

At the groundbreaking ceremony, at the subsequent university recruitment seminars, and each time he talks about his ‘TV dream’ with reporters, not only does Ricky Wong utilize astounding numbers to describe his operations, he also takes every chance he gets to ‘indirectly’ point out that TVB is too old-fashioned, its policies are old, and its material is outdated.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, ND Daily’s reporter asked Mr. Wong what type of ‘rules’ he wanted to establish, to which he replied: “Establish rules that are fair and give artists the opportunity to develop rather than be tied down to one TV station.”

Asked about what type of themes he wants to explore in his series, Mr. Wong replied: “We don’t want to keep doing the same old ‘family fighting over inheritance’ or traditional love story themes and we definitely don’t want to keep going back and forth between the same 2 to 3 story concepts. We hope to have more diversity and have a lot of different themes.”

When asked about how he would provide audiences with ‘high quality’ programs, Mr. Wong replied: “Others use plastic in place of glass and use fake posters to represent an outside location – we will use real scenery and real locations!” He also expressed that within the next 3 years, his company will be producing a TV program completely in 3D. In addition, he will be investing $600 to $800 million HKD to build a production center that is as big as 33 football stadiums, with aspirations of it being the largest filming studio in all of Asia. He also has plans to produce the first television musical in Hong Kong’s history.

Ricky Wong’s plans are definitely targeted at TVB’s weak spots – actually, TVB had once included the creation of a 3D television program in its plans, however due to limitations with their transmissions and technology, the plans fell through.

Indeed, it seems that even the artists and behind-the-scenes personnel who have joined Ricky Wong’s company have been indirectly pointing out the ‘limitations’ to TVB’s productions and the hindrance it poses to creativity – with Felix Wong stating that there’s “more opportunity to develop here [CTI]” and Maggie Cheung stating that the “new environment gives a lot of freedom”. With Ricky Wong adding his comments on top of that, the ‘criticism’ of TVB automatically becomes ‘headline news’ in the entertainment papers the next day!

With concrete productions actually being worked on right now by both sides, there’s no telling at this moment who will win the battle. For competitive leaders such as Ricky Wong who are eager to come out the winner, employing psychological warfare right now is not necessarily the wrong thing, as long as it suits him.


Future Prospects: Start filming in April, production process completely transparent

Compared to TVB’s usual policy of keeping its production process largely closed off to the public, Ricky Wong’s production ideas are more ‘daring’: “Our television production center will include a long glass corridor where ordinary citizens and students can come observe the production process, including filming series and shows, doing voice-over work, makeup, props, sets, etc. – this way, they can truly understand what goes into producing a series and the joy that it brings. This will help bring us closer to the audiences.”

In April, Ricky Wong’s first series will start filming. Since their filming studio has not been built yet, CTI has already rented 2 studios for filming internal shots – the rest of the filming will be done on location.

Ricky Wong also revealed some additional plans for the future: “We will start off by filming 2 to 3 series at the same time – we’re estimating that we’ll produce about a dozen series totaling 260 hours and also 104 hours of variety show programming by the end of this year. In 2013, the plan is to increase production to 650 hours of drama series and 520 hours of variety show programming.”

1) The below is the first of a multi part “special feature” article about the 2012 HK Television Wars that was published in ND Daily News last week . The remaining parts will be translated and posted in the coming weeks.

2) The article makes the assumption that readers already have basic knowledge about the HK Television industry…so in order to better understand the article, here’s some background info:

* Current free-to-air TV stations in HK: Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) & Asia Television Limited (ATV)

* 3 new free-to-air television licenses to be issued this year (2012) to the following companies:

City Telecom (CTI), owned by businessman Ricky Wong
Fantastic Television, owned by i-Cable Communications (long-time cable operator in HK)
HK Television Entertainment Company (HKTVE), owned by telecommunications company PCCW (which also owns NowTV)
.******.

When a new power emerges, it is inevitable that recruitment efforts take place in order to be prepared and aim to make the biggest impact.

With the exception of i-Cable, which has remained relatively low-key about their free-to-air television plans, both CTI and NowTV have already started to ‘organize their troops’ since last year, employing various tactics such as using the lure of ‘big money’ (CTI) or playing the ‘friendship’ card (NowTV) to ‘recruit’ a large number of TVB artists as well as behind-the-scenes staff. With its decades-long reign as the ‘King’ of HK television being threatened with an onslaught of new competition, TVB has been ‘fighting back’ by urgently seeking out suitable candidates to fill the positions left vacant by the loss of staff.

From this moment on, the “tradition” of HK television artists being only from TVB or ATV will be re-written and the ‘spectacle’ of showing off all of their assets in one shot [i.e.: having the entire station’s artists show up to support a particular event] will no longer be a special ‘privilege’ reserved only for TVB. Even though a ‘substantial’ change in power [i.e.: issuing of the free-to-air licenses] has yet to take place, we are already starting to see a major ‘shift’ in talent both in front of the camera (the artists) as well as behind the scenes (the producers & scriptwriters).

Below is a look at the upcoming ‘battlefield’:

ASIA TELEVISION (ATV)

Operations base: Tai Po

Company Head:
Wong Jing – Investor
James Shing – Executive Director
Major Behind-the-scenes ‘Leaders’:
Yip Ka Bo -- Deputy Director
Kam Kwok Leung – Tactical Advisor [and current host of special program《 ATV 100 Celebrities》《亚视百人》]

Artists outlook:

> Paw Hee Ching, Eva Lai, Gilbert Lam – continue to remain at ATV, focus will be on hosting variety shows and various ‘lifestyle’ programs related to food, fashion, current trends, etc.

> Kenneth Chan, Jaclyn Chu – long-time ATV artists who once left the company but have since returned to become the ‘pillars’ of the station

> Cai Lan (蔡瀾) – hosted culinary / food-related shows for TVB for many years; this year, will be hosting the culinary program 《蔡瀾亞洲一樂也》for ATV as ‘outside help’.

> Clifton Ko [famous HK director / producer of film, TV, concerts, and stageplays] – will continue to host the《Clifton Ko Weibo 》for ATV.

.***.

i-Cable Communications

Operations base: Tsuen Wan

Company Head: Stephen Ng – Chairman & CEO

Major Behind-the-scenes ‘Leaders’:
Ronald Chiu– Executive Director in charge of News platform
Samuel Tsang– Executive Director in charge of Entertainment platform
.***.

City Telecom (CTI)

Operations base: Kwai Chung (New Territories), Tseung Kwan O

Company Head: Ricky Wong -- Chairman

Major Behind-the-scenes ‘Leaders’:

> Lau Choi Wan (劉彩雲 ) – former TVB ‘golden’ scriptwriter (“Ghetto Justice”)

> So Man Chong (蘇萬聰) – former TVB series senior director (“Lives of Omission”)

> Tang Yuen Mei (鄧婉媚) – former TVB producer of variety shows (“On the Road”)

> Cheung Wah Biu (張華標) – former TVB ‘golden’ scriptwriter (“Heart of Greed”, “Moonlight Resonance”, “Rosy Business”, “No Regrets”, etc.)

Artists outlook:

> Felix Wong– dubbed ‘CTI’s first brother’ by the Media at CTI’s groundbreaking ceremony; signed per series contract with CTI, set to film a science fiction-themed investigative series, possible collaboration with his daughter Adrian Wong (黄芷晴).

> Maggie Cheung – ‘replaced’ in TVB major productions “The Great Eunuch” and “Legend of Empress Lui” due to contract issues; verbally promised that she will be filming 1 series for CTI in the second half of the year.

> Bernice Liu – left TVB after being ‘thrown aside’; signed with a management company that Ricky Wong has investment ties to.

> Frankie Lam – former TVB siu sang; signed 2 year management contract with CTI

> Joe Ma – final series at TVB “Special Duties Unit” being placed in weekend timeslot; signed with a management company that Ricky Wong has investment ties to.

> John Chiang, Leila Tong, Catherine Chau, Lisa Lui, Felix Lok, Maria Chan, Rain Lau, Yuen Wah, Yu Mo Lian, etc – all former TVB veteran and second/third-line artists

> Former singers who used to have ties to TVB, such as Prudence Liew, Kelvin Kwan, Benji Chiang , etc.

.***.

NowTV (HKTVE)

Operations base: Quarry Bay

Company Head: Ho Lai Chuen (何麗全) – Chief Director of Television & New Media; Director of Production) [former TVB director of Variety / non-drama department]

Major Behind-the-scenes ‘Leaders’: Lau Ka Ho (劉家豪) and Miu Siu Ching (梅小青) – former TVB husband/wife team ‘golden’ producers; officially join NowTV in March.

Artists outlook:

> Bowie Lam – former TVB siu sang; officially signed with NowTV and management company ATN Talent Management Inc. (大國豐臣) [a company created by former film producer Terence Chang in joint effort with NowTV and Tong’s Entertainment.

> Wong Hei – former TVB siu sang; officially signed with ATN at end of last year; will be hosting a variety program in March and filming his first series [for NowTV] in April.

> Singers Sandy Lam, Hacken Lee, William So, Kay Tse, Hins Cheung, etc. performed at the opening concert for NowTV’s Mango Channel . Also, ‘TVB’s god-son’ Hacken Lee signed with NowTV to host the live broadcast of the 2012 European Nations Cup.

> Former TVB hosts Joey Leung (梁榮忠), Vinci Wong (王賢誌), and Anna Yau (丘凱敏) will also be hosting programs for NowTV

.***.

Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB)

Operations base: Tseung Kwan O

Company Head: Norman Leung – Deputy Chairman

Major Behind-the-scenes ‘Leaders’:

> Yu Wing Shan (余詠珊) – former executive of TVB’s Payvision channels who was recruited back to take over the helm of TVB’s Variety / Non-drama department (the position left vacant by Ho Lai Chuen)

> Catherine Tsang & Tommy Leung will continue to head up the Drama production department

> Head of Production and Resources Virginia Lok will continue to oversee the Artists Department -- not only is her department picking up the pace now with contract discussions of current artists, they are also starting to recruit other station’s artists as well.

> Stephen Chan’s General Manager position continues to remain vacant.

Artists outlook:

> Alice Chan – former ATV fadan; just finished signing per series contract with TVB; will be participating in upcoming grand production “War and Beauty 2”

> Joey Man & Coffee Lu – former ATV fadans; Virginia Lok personally contacted them to discuss possible collaboration; as of this moment, neither artist has made a decision on whether to join TVB

> ‘Biological’ children Myolie Wu, Fala Chan, Tavia Yeung, Linda Chung, Kate Tsui, Moses Chan, Kevin Cheng, Michael Tse, Ron Ng, Raymond Lam, Bosco Wong, Kenneth Ma, etc. will continue to remain.

> Other ‘regulars’ including Carol (Dodo) Cheng, Liza Wang, Louise Lee, Wayne Lai, Michael Miu, etc. will continue to support TVB.

.***.

Former TVB artists who will be focusing their efforts up North (Mainland China)

> Charmaine Sheh – former TVB fadan; switched to ‘per series’ contract and has been focusing her efforts in the Mainland; signed with management company ‘Creative Arts Productions’ (創藝製作發行有限公司), which has business relations with Ricky Wong’s CTI, however this has not affected her continued good relationship with TVB.

> Jessica Hsuan – former TVB fadan; currently a free artist; has stated that Ricky Wong has approached her, however a possible collaboration “is still too distant – will wait until there is a substantive script before discussing further.”

> Steven Ma – former TVB siu sang; served TVB for 18 years; early termination of his contract was officially completed this month; currently filming grand production Mainland series “Legend of the Yuan Empire Founder” with Charmaine Sheh; as of this moment, has not signed with a management company.