HKTV boss Ricky Wong Wai-kay planning mobile-TV shopping channel
Entrepreneur wants to offer an alternative to crowded chain stores as company awaits result from judicial review of mobile-TV licence bid
A virtual shopping mall offering products from 200 to 300 outlets is the latest angle being pursued by Ricky Wong Wai-kay to achieve his mobile television dream, which has stalled due to legal complications.
The chairman of Hong Kong Television Network said the company plans to roll out a 24-hour shopping channel, offering an alternative for shoppers weary of crowds and chain stores.
"There is such a business opportunity in Hong Kong … there aren't any large-scale virtual shopping platforms offering a wide range of products that are of guaranteed quality," Wong said, adding that he rejected the belief that shopping through television or the internet was doomed to fail in a city that markets itself as a shoppers' paradise.
Should his wider plan to launch a mobile television service move forward, Wong said he plans to run as many as five channels, including one in Cantonese, a news channel and the 24-hour shopping channel.
The Broadcasting Ordinance states that free television stations cannot devote more than 10 minutes of each hour to advertising between 5pm and 11pm, while advertising time outside of that period cannot exceed 18 per cent of the total broadcast time.
But mobile television is not subject to these advertising restrictions. "We can run a 24-hour shopping channel. It's something that neither TVB nor ATV could do," Wong said.
Two weeks ago, HKTV applied for a free-to-air television licence again, with a total projected investment of HK$3.4 billion over six years - six times more than the investment outlined in its original application from four years ago. The number of planned channels has been scaled back from 12 to three.