Let RTHK and HKTV fill the content gap

Officials have asked RTHK, the eminently unready but government-owned station, to take over ATV's analogue broadcasts should the latter go under before its licence expires. If so, I don't understand why they don't let HKTV in as well.

ATV chiefs have admitted they may only be able to operate for four more months without a fresh injection of funds, but now that a licence renewal has been rejected, no investors would put up more money. About 20 per cent of the city's population, or 480,000 households, still watch analogue television broadcasts.

Since everyone is lamenting the prospect of having TVB as the only free TV station for some time to come, the solution is a no-brainer: let both RTHK and HKTV take over. RTHK clearly does not have enough programmes to replace ATV's daily service. It is, in any case, not designed to do so. But Ricky Wong Wai-kay's HKTV has been operating on internet and digital platforms since November.

I can already see government bureaucrats and regulators shaking their heads: "That's impossible. We must follow existing broadcasting laws and regulations. HKTV must go through the application process again."

Nonsense! If officials are willing to get RTHK, which runs on digital, to buy ATV's analogue assets, they can start buying some of HKTV's dramas and programmes. There should be no law or regulation against such syndication by HKTV. Since Wong's station started broadcasting in November, some of its programmes have received acclaim. In any case, they would be an alternative to TVB's programmes of varying quality. ATV has been showing reruns and produced precious little original content anyway even before regulators pulled the plug on the station.

As for the fact that both RTHK and HKTV would have no news-broadcasting ability, it could be remedied. RTHK has a highly professional radio news service. Both stations can pool their resources to produce news content for television.