The gala launch of Hongkong Telecom's Interactive TV video-on-demand service was held last Monday night, the same evening as the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Like the Oscars, the iTV ceremony in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was a star-studded event. It included Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Andy Lau, star of sci-fi thriller Armageddon.
In the film, Lau played a computer wizard, 'Dr Ken', allegedly modelled on William Lo, managing director of Hongkong Telecom IMS and the man behind iTV.
Even Mr Lo's speech had the ring of an Oscar acceptance speech. 'You can imagine how I feel after all these years of effort,' he said, before going on to thank a long list of iTV's partner companies.
Mr Lo may be premature in his relief. If iTV, first conceived in 1993, has any parallels in the movie business, it would be Titanic. Both are expensive - $2 billion has been invested by Telecom so far, which expects to spend $10 billion within the next decade - and risky projects headed by ambitious men.
Like Titanic director James Cameron, Mr Lo has presided over costly delays, internal squabbles, and changes in direction and technology. Along the way, Mr Lo and iTV have received the sort of fine-tooth examination that only projects running counter to the conventional wisdom receive.
The conventional wisdom is that VOD, while cutting-edge technology, is also on the bleeding edge, financially.