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SCMP Reporter

Robert Chua's 'no sex, no violence' China Entertainment Television (CETV) is considering joining the exodus of international television companies from Hong Kong to Singapore.

  Responding to rumours that the 24-hour Putonghua cable television company may relocate, Mr Chua told the Singapore Straits Times : 'Let me put it this way - I'm a Singaporean and I've always wanted to come back and contribute.

 'I've been away for 32 years already. It would be good to come home.'   If CETV did defect from Hong Kong, where it was founded in 1994, then it would be following in the footsteps of CNBC Asia, ESPN Star Sports, MTV Asia, Discovery Channel Asia and Reuters Television.

  In recent years, the Singapore Government has gone to great pains to promote the city as an international media hub.

  There are 26 foreign cable and satellite broadcasters transmitting more than 50 channels to the Asia and Pacific out of Singapore.

  Mr Chua, 53, CETV's founder and chairman, said his final decision would hinge on whether he could find the right 'opportunities, financial support and goodwill' in Singapore.

  His cable firm has been in dire financial straits since potential investors pulled out of a refinancing deal last February.

 CETV, which has been bleeding red ink continuously since its launch, lost about US$4 billion to US$5 billion last year.

  However, its fortunes have been on the mend recently, with an agreement with Wharf's Hong Kong Cable Television in December to begin broadcasting CETV's product.

  This followed a similar deal with Guangdong Cable Television last October.

 This was a major breakthrough after years of bending over backwards to please the powers that be in Beijing, including broadcasting an open letter to President Jiang Zemin early last year, pleading for his station to be granted landing rights.

  Mr Chua claimed CETV, which costs US$400,000 a month to run, was currently talking to several major players regarding financing, among them American, Hong Kong, mainland Chinese and Singaporean companies.

  'If we strike a deal with a Singaporean company, then it would be yet another incentive for CETV to come to Singapore,' said Mr Chua, a former TVB executive.

  'A television station cannot exist in a vacuum,' he said. 'It needs the support of big corporations and government bodies.'   CETV is already received in Singapore through Singapore-CableVision.

  Singapore's emergence as a regional media hub began in 1992, when Home Box Office opened an Asia headquarters for its movie-subscription channel within Singapore's New Tech Park in Lorong Chuan.

  The repertoire of broadcasters now in the republic ranges from Walt Disney to Japan Entertainment TV.

 National Geographic Channel last year was the most recent station to set up a Singapore base.

  The proliferation of foreign broadcasters in Singapore over the last few years is largely the result of aggressive courting by its Economic Development Board.

 The board was quick to latch on to a trend of western broadcasters looking for growth opportunities in Asia. It plugged its good infrastructure and laid out the welcome mat with a host of incentives.

 Last August, Singapore Telecommunications even launched its first satellite, ST-1, to cater for Singapore's fast-growing new business cluster.

  Star TV is the biggest player to remain in Hong Kong. However, during a trip to Singapore this week, international television mogul Rupert Murdoch said he also would be interested in investment opportunities there.

  CNN International, TNT and Cartoon Network, all Turner group companies, still beam out of Hong Kong, but in 1997, Turner Broadcasting opened a Southeast Asia sales office in Singapore.



Chua considers moving CETV to Singapore