As the bidding deadline passes for embattled Hong Kong broadcaster Asia Television to sell a 10 per cent stake, SCMP looks back on the road that led it to its current crisis. 

A reincarnation of the world's first Chinese-language broadcaster Rediffusion that was founded in 1957, the company was named ATV in 1982 when Deacon Chiu Te-ken, founder of Far East Holdings, took over.

Known for his tight fiscal discipline, ATV under Chiu was a profitable outfit, with a slew of new shows including the Miss Asia beauty pageant.

In 1988, a year after a fire burned down the station's headquarters, Lai Sun Group founder Lim Por-yen took over ATV in another reshuffle.

ATV was a trendsetter under Lim. He brought in former executive and legislative councillor Selina Chow, formerly with TVB and CTV, as general manger. She went on to poach many talents from TVB, including comedy stars Lydia "Fei Fei" Shum and Eric Tsang Chi-wai.

From Celebrity Talk Show, in which hosts lyric master James Wong Jim , filmmaker Chua Lam and author Ni Kuang talked about love and sex while puffing on cigarettes, to infotainment show forerunner Hong Kong Today, ATV was a trailblazer in creating new shows.

Current affairs talk show News Tease became a career launch pad for Wong Yuk-man and Albert Cheng King-hon, who went on to become celebrity show hosts and later legislators. My Date with a Vampire was created during this golden era.