ATV to resume evening and night newscasts in Hong Kong today but wages not guaranteed
English-language World channel still has no news programmes amid exodus of staff
Beleaguered Asia Television resumed its two evening newscasts on its Chinese-language channel yesterday after a two-week suspension due to unpaid wages and a lack of manpower.
The resumption on the Home channel came after an exodus of angry news staff, many of whom did not receive their December wages. No one has been paid for January.
“Our news department supervisors have constantly been monitoring the department’s situation in terms of manpower and resources. Decisions were made after a review of the situation,” ATV’s senior public relations manager Jeff Wong Sau-tung said yesterday.
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“So far we do not have plans to resume the newscasts on the English-language World channel,” he said.
Earlier this month, ATV investor Si Rongbin promised that all staff would be paid their December and January wages last week after a local investor was said to be interested in injecting funds into the cash-strapped broadcaster.
Wong quoted Si as saying yesterday that those who had not received their December wages would be paid tomorrow. And the station was still “making arrangements” about salaries for January, Wong added.
Under the terms of its licence, ATV is required to broadcast two newscasts, each of at least 15 minutes, between 6pm and midnight on its Chinese and English-language channels. Possible punishments include a financial penalty or revocation of its licence, which will expire in April.
The evening newscast yesterday lasted about 20 minutes, inclusive of a three-minute commercial break.
An ATV newsroom employee said when his supervisor asked him to return to work, there was no guarantee that he would be paid.
“But I was told earlier this week that those who returned to work would have priority in getting wages,” he said.
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Only three reporters from ATV’s Hong Kong desk returned to work yesterday. Several staff from the international desk, who quit the station earlier, went back to help their former colleagues resume newscasts.
“Reporters were told that they did not have to go out and do reporting. However, cameramen were sent out to get the footage we needed,” a worker said.
An unidentified number of ATV employees from different departments have already made use of a section in the Employment Ordinance which allows them to terminate their contracts without the consent of their employer if they are not paid a month after wages are due. It is unclear how many staff are left at ATV.
In April last year, the government announced it would not renew ATV’s licence because the station had failed to submit a sustainable business plan. It was allowed to run until April 1 this year.
