Profile: Ricky Wong, the media upstart making a splash

Ricky Wong Wai-kay is, in his own words, the type of person who earns himself more enemies than friends due to his straightforwardness.

But in a matter of days, the popularity of the former HKTV chairman has surged with the public, due to the same characteristics. His fiery quotes about the government's rejection of his free-to-air TV-licence application have been far more entertaining than the repetitive statements of government ministers.

"Who rules Hong Kong: the law, the policies, or the chief executive?" asked the 51-year-old, right after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying refused to spill the beans about how he and the Executive Council decide to oust HKTV.

Wong said that the public were angry - more than 80,000 of them took to the streets last Sunday - not because they were unhappy about the loss of HKTV in particular, but because of this government failure to explain itself.

"Let's put all the political theories behind us, and stop debates on whether citizens should have the right to elect the chief executive. But are you meddling with my choice of entertainment or TV station? Must we all buy the type of toilet paper designated by the government?"

In the eyes of his peers in the telecoms and media industries, Wong, who has two children, is a very smart man who loves challenging the status quo.

"He is full of confidence. As for whether he is arrogant, I would say: not really. He just says no to nonsense," IT lawmaker Charles Mok said.