Critics and viewers fear for the future of Hong Kong's golden TV tradition

Born in Mauritius, living in Toronto, Jennifer Chan says she lives a Hong Kong life - just somewhere else. A child of Hong Kong parents, she grew up gorging on the city's television, picking up colloquial Cantonese jokes and Chinese idioms from shows such as Andy Lau Tak-wah's period dramas in the 1980s to time-travel comedy A Step into the Past in 2001.

"Hong Kong TV shows had a big impact on my childhood," says the 33-year-old. "They were relaxing and comforting. They connected me with Hong Kong."

She watched during the golden era of Hong Kong television, the 1980s and 1990s, when programmes, films and Canto-pop were major cultural exports.

Today, viewers complain about the domination of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). The company recorded a 96 per cent share of the prime-time free-to-air TV audience, nearly 1.5 million viewers, in the first week of December. But its shows are derided for illogical plots, recycled sets and low production values.

"Over the past five to six years, TVB shows have become a joke," Chan says. "When you get older, you want something more meaningful, not something that repeats itself all the time."

This year disgruntled viewers hoped the status quo would change. Telecoms entrepreneur Ricky Wong Wai-kay proposed airing high quality dramas on his Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). The online premiere of the crime thriller Borderline has drawn nearly 1.2 million views since its launch in June. With a fast-paced narrative and on-location filming using state-of-the-art cameras, the production quality upstaged the cookie-cutter studio output of TVB.