Asia Television has been using the long hours worked by Hongkongers as an excuse for rerunning its programmes several times a day, a Communications Authority report showed.
The authority, which oversees the broadcasting and telecommunications industries, conducted a public engagement exercise to gauge views on the ATV and TVB free-to-air broadcasters between February and May.
It released a summary of public comments and the stations' responses yesterday.
Among the 7,600 written submissions received, a significant number wanted ATV to provide more locally-produced programmes and to reduce the number of reruns - some programmes were broadcast four times a day.
In the face of this criticism, ATV told the watchdog that it arranged the reruns out of goodwill: "Due to the trend of prolonged working hours in recent years, many viewers would have missed the programmes scheduled during prime time when they are still at work. They may wish to have a chance to watch these programmes after work."
As viewers did not seem to appreciate this move, the station had made changes.
Starting in July, the repeats of some programmes had been reduced. Current affairs programme Blog the World and artist training show Performance Training Project Highlights on the Chinese-language Home channel had been cut from four to three times a day.