Newspapers make move on free online TV
Hong Kong's two leading Chinese-language newspaper publishers are transforming into multimedia content providers by launching full, free online video services soon to extend their exposure to youngsters who seldom read newspapers.
Oriental Press Group, the publisher of Hong Kong's best-selling Oriental Daily News, and Next Media, publisher of Apple Daily, have increased their online video content in recent months to attract more users to their websites.
Sources told Media Eye that Oriental Press will soon launch an online television service called ONTV. The new service has recruited a team of journalists and camera men and technicians for the video content production. Apple Daily, meanwhile, has introduced three weekly video online chat room programmes on football, horse racing and stock investing to get the audience to interact with journalists.
'It's natural for newspaper publishers to explore the online audience as the circulation and advertising of traditional newspapers is under threat from emerging media such as the internet,' said Kevin Huang, chief executive of Pixel Media, an online advertising agent.
Mr Huang said a survey by research firm Synnovate, found youngsters spent 16 hours on the Web against 15 hours watching television. Newspapers were not part of the survey.
The introduction of online news should help turn viewership into advertising dollars.
However, Hong Kong online advertising accounts for only 5 per cent of the market while traditional media such as television and newspapers take up about a 5 per cent share each.
Oriental Press strengthened its traditional newsroom operation to support video and television production. Its flagship news portal on.cc already offers video clips on local and financial news as well as real time entertainment clips.
Media Eye learned that ONTV is on trial and crew are already shooting. You soon may spot a microphone with the on.cc logo - the largest among electronic media.
'The new ONTV will have a series of news programmes to be aired online every day. The company even has clothing sponsorship for the programme hosts, and news anchors,' a source told Media Eye, adding that fashion brand Calvin Klein is on the list of sponsors.
Apple Daily, for its part, has been pushing a relatively small-scale web television service offering three to four weekly online video chats that focus on football betting, horse-race betting and stock advice.
Apple Daily encourages online video show participants by giving away cash coupons.
'Our programmes are not the same as traditional television as we emphasise increased interaction rather than just delivering video content on the internet,' a Next Media source said.
However, such a move may challenge the government's cross-media ownership policy which states media owners are banned from holding assets in other media platforms to avoid dominance in the media sector, industry watchers told Media Eye.
'The regulatory framework is absolutely outdated and needs review,' a media executive said. 'As technology evolves for news production, it is impossible to limit media owners such as newspaper publishers from distributing news content in video format.'
PCCW's NOW TV and the Hong Kong Economic Journal, which is owned by a trust held by PCCW's chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai, is still under investigation for breach of cross-media ownership.
