China Entertainment Television Broadcast (CETV) founder and chief executive Robert Chua Wah Peng says he will start legal action against a consortium of mainland companies which failed to complete a deal to buy 80 per cent of the troubled company.
As a result of the agreement failing, Mr Chua said CETV did not have sufficient operating funds to keep going and would be forced to close at the end of the month if new investors could not be found.
Half of its 200-strong workforce were laid off last week.
'Should CETV cease operations, I will be forced to commence legal action to recover the significant damages that have resulted from the failure of the buyers to fulfil their obligations under the purchase agreement,' he said.
He said he was keen to find other investors, particularly ones who shared his programming philosophy.
Mr Chua, who launched the 'no sex, no violence, no news' Mandarin language satellite service in 1994, yesterday called a news conference during which he showed video footage of the contract signing ceremony taking place in Beijing.
