Commercial Television (TV station)
 |
|
| Private Limited | |
| Industry | Television |
| Founded | September 7, 1975 |
| Defunct | October 19, 1978 (3 years, 42 days) |
| Headquarters | 1A Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
| Products | Commercial Television |
| Revenue | N/A |
|
Number of employees
|
About 1000 |
| Website | N/A |
Commercial Television (CTV; Chinese: 佳藝電視) was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.
In 1973, the Hong Kong government issued licences for additional terrestrial television broadcasters, ending TVB's six-year monopoly as the sole free-to-air television company in Hong Kong. A group of shareholders formed a consortium (Commercial Television) to contest the licence; the six major shareholders were Commercial Radio, Jardines, Sing Tao Daily, Wah Kiu Yat Pao, Industrial and Commercial Daily, and the Lam family (one of the founders of Hang Seng Bank).
The licences were awarded on August 10, with Rediffusion Television receiving licences for two television stations (one broadcasting in Cantonese and the other in English), while Commercial Television only received one licence for a station broadcasting in Cantonese.
The station launched at 6:00 pm on September 7, 1975. Its logo was a hexagon formed from six angled lines, representing the Six Arts (禮樂射御書數) in Confucian philosophy, as well as the six major stakeholders. At the time, the station was reportedly mocked for using the Six Arts as the inspiration for its logo, as 御書數 (Charioteering, Calligraphy and Mathematics) in Cantonese sounds similar to the phrase 預輸數 (predicted/prepared for defeat).
One of the station's licensing conditions was to air two hours of educational programming every week night, with no commercial interruptions. Such programming on the station was primarily oriented at adults, covering topics such as automechanics, interior design, and foreign languages. The station struggled to break even as a result of this requirement. An attempt was made to resurrect the failing station in July 1976 when Selina Chow, then Assistant general manager of TVB was drafted in as its new general manager. A significant amount of money was spent on producing drama series; The number of staff trebled, and the cash-burn rate escalated under Chow.
...
Wikipedia