i-Cable Communications denies rumours to quit pay TV play

Following media reports, i-Cable Communications has denied rumours that it is planning to retreat from the pay TV market. Media reports said that the company will put its resources into its free TV station Hong Kong Open TV.  According to multiple reports including The Standard, a spokesperson from the company on Wednesday denied the rumours and said that the company had no plan in retreating from the pay TV market. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to i-Cable Communications for more details. 

On Monday, its shares were suspended from trading in the morning before the market opened. The company issued a statement on 5 October, which stated that the company was pending the release of an announcement of inside information of the company potentially involving the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers.

According to a report from the South China Morning Post, i-Cable Communications is likely to announce new shareholders or consolidation with other companies to finance its future expansion, as pay-TV and other media businesses in Hong Kong have been struggling as there were a lot of competitors in the market. The company is required to spend HK$3.45 billion between 2017 and 2023 in capital investment and programming content under a concession that runs until May 2029. Its TV business rivals include HKT's nowTV and PCCW's ViuTV, while it also competes with a number of broadband operators such as Hong Kong Broadband Network.

The Standard quoted a source that David Chiu Tat-cheong, chairman of the company's board, will sell his shares to Henry Cheng Kar-shun, vice-chair of the company's board. Cheng now owns 45.5% of the company's shares and he will own up to 70% of shares after the potential handover.

Although the company said it would not focus only on the free TV market, the advertising revenue of the free television channel, Hong Kong Open TV, increased by approximately 61% over last year. Meanwhile, the MTR Corporation In-Train TV had not achieved significant growth due to the impact of COVID-19, the company still believed that when the pandemic is under control, this operation will make positive contributions.

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