ATV Home () 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. Owing to ATV's deterioration and other issues, on 31 March 2015 ATV's over-the-air broadcasting license was revoked effective 2 April 2016; the channel signed off shortly before midnight on 1 April 2016, and was replaced on analogue transmission by RTHK TV 31.
History
Rediffusion Television 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" (). This would lay the groundwork for what will eventually become ATV Home.
On 1 February 1967, the channel was renamed "RTV-1" ().
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 (). 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.
The channel in early September 1982 stopped airing the Japanese drama series The Rise of Shogun after airing two of its eight episodes, due to concerns over the rewritten history of Japan and glossing over occupation in the early 1940s.
Asia Television On 24 September 1982, Rediffusion Television was bought out by a locally owned enterprise called Far East Group (). The new owner renamed Rediffusion to Asia Television, and consequently, the channel was renamed "ATV Cantonese" ().
On 2 February 1987, the channel was again renamed, to "ATV Gold" ().
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" (). In 2015, former ATV executive Selina Chow revealed that the station's new name was supposed to be "ATV Hong Kong" (), but the station was forced to scrap the name, in favor of ATV Home (),In Hong Kong parlance, the word "本港" is a way to say "香港". Literally, "本港" means "this Hong Kong", referring to the city as a whole. after Secretary for Administrative Services and Information Peter Tsao opposed the name.TVB News program "News Magazine", in an episode that aired on 4 April 2015.
In September 2015, ATV planned to rebrand the channel as ATV-1 Hong Kong ();葉家寶稱已獲批准調整亞視現有頻道申請 ，ATV News，29 September 2015 the plan came to a premature end due to the end of its license.
Competitive disadvantage 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 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 (), Fatherland (), The Legendary Fok (), Central Affairs I and II () and Reincarnated (). Recent productions of note include The Pride of Chao Zhou (), Who is the Winner? (), King of the Gambler () and The Good Old Days ().
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 ().
Other 'infotainment' programmes like Stories From Afar () are ranked highly by public reviews, such as the Appreciation Index Survey Best Television Awards ().
Some ATV programmes, such as the entertainment news show Hong Kong Today (今日睇真D) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (), have proven to be particularly popular, prompting their rival TVB to offer similar shows, such as Focus On Focus () and Weakest Link (一筆OUT消), respectively.
Well-known programmes aTV Miss Asia Pageant (1985–2014) aTV Mr. Asia Contest (2005, 2011–) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2001–2005) Hong Kong Film Awards (2010, 2011) Cheers Hong Kong (2011–)
Drama series 1984: Drunken Fist 醉拳王無忌 1984: Drunken Fist II 醉拳王無忌之日帝月后 1993: Fatal Love 危情 1993: Hong Kong and Shanghai Godfather Season 1 (再見黃埔灘1之中國教父) 1994: Hong Kong and Shanghai Godfather Season 2 (再見黃埔灘2之再起風雲) 1994: Bays of Being Parents () 1994: Beauty Pageant (ATV) () 1994: Secret Battle of the Majesty () 1994: Outlaw Hero () 1994: The Kungfu Master () 1994: A Cruel Lover () 1995: Pao Qingtian (a.k.a. Judge Bao) () 1995: Fist of Fury () 1995: Vampire Expert Season 1 (僵屍道長1) 1996: I Have a Date with Spring () 1996: The Little Vagrant Lady () 1996: King of Gamblers () 1996: Vampire Expert Season 2 (僵屍道長2) 1996: Tales From The Dorms () 1996: The Little Vagrant Lady II ( II ) 1997: Forrest Cat Season 1 (肥貓正傳1) 1997: Year of Chameleon (97 ) 1997: Coincidentally () 1997: Pride of Chaozhou () 1997: Gold Rush () 1998: Thou Shalt Not Cheat () 1998: The Heroine of the Yangs () 1998: Heroine of the Yangs II ( II ) 1998: I Come From Guangzhou () 1998: My Date with a Vampire () 1999: Ten Tigers of Guangdong () co-produced with the Sanlih Network from Taiwan 1999: Flaming Brothers () 1999: Forrest Cat Season 2 (肥貓正傳2) 2000: My Date with a Vampire 2 (我和殭屍有個約會II) 2000: Showbiz Tycoon 2001: To Where He Belongs 2001: Healing Hearts () 2002: Mission in Trouble 2004: Asian Heroes 2004: My Date with a Vampire 3 – the Eternal Legend (我和殭屍有個約會III之永恆國度) 2006: Walled Village 2006: Relentless Justice (AKA No Turning Back) 2008: Flaming Butterfly () 2008: The Men of Justice () 2012: Heart's Beat for Love ()
See also Asia Television
References