I won't compete directly with TVB, says Hong Kong licence applicant David Chiu

There is no need to compete directly with Hong Kong's biggest television station TVB, according to the second son of late former ATV owner Deacon Chiu Te-ken. David Chiu Tat-cheong heads a consortium which applied for a domestic free-television licence earlier this month.

Chiu told RTHK in his first interview since the application was submitted that his late father would have been "happy" with what he was doing.

Chiu, chairman of developer Far East Consortium, revealed that the shareholders of Forever Top (Asia) did think of buying the cash-strapped ATV, but they gave it up because the procedures were "rather complicated". Instead, he said, they submitted a bid for a new licence.

A heavyweight in the consortium is Macau tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun's daughter Pansy Ho Chiu-king, co-chairman of MGM China and one of the richest women in Hong Kong. The group plans to invest HK$3.2 billion in the first six years of operation.

"I am sure there will not be only one TV station in Hong Kong," Chiu said. "A smart government will not allow a single TV station to control the industry."

But he also said it was not necessary to engage in "direct" and "hostile" competition with TVB. "During my father's era, ATV mostly produced programmes that were suitable to audiences aged 40 to 50, while TVB targeted all age groups. It proved that two stations could survive."