Television Broadcasts is betting its vast archive of Cantonese dramas and variety shows will find a receptive audience in far-flung Chinese communities through the internet.
TVB, which launched video-on-demand services in the second half of last year, has since signed up partners in Taiwan and South Korea and now hopes to find more customers at Filmart, the industry exposition that began in Hong Kong yesterday.
'We see tremendous demand from internet users, especially in Taiwan,' said Anthony Ho Ping, a division manager of content licensing at TVB International, the company's distribution arm.
'Our monthly subscription revenue has increased two to three times in the past five months.'
TVB does a brisk business providing content to video-rental shops in markets with large Chinese communities, but Mr Ho sees rentals being replaced by video-on-demand services.
'It is definitely a major revenue driver for us in future,' he said.