Struggling pay-television operator tries to improve fortunes in battle for subscribers by using TVB brand in relaunch
Television Broadcasts' pay-television operation, Supersun, is banking on yet another name change to turn the struggling business around, and on a partnership with rival PCCW Now Broadband TV to lift its battered fortunes.
Analysts, however, doubt whether the initiatives will do much to pull Supersun from under the shadow of the two big operators, i-Cable Communications and Now Broadband TV, which have 700,000 and 500,000 subscribers, respectively.
Supersun has 63,000 subscribers, Media Partners Asia says.
The company - 51 per cent owned by dealmaker Charles Chan Kwok-keung and his listed firm See Corp, with the balance held by TVB - expects the business to break even within three years and targets 300,000 subscribers.
'We are considering dropping the name of Supersun and have proposed a new name, TVB Pay TV, to compete with rivals i-Cable and Now,' a source close to the operator said. 'The TVB brand is much stronger than any other media brand in Hong Kong. We don't know what Supersun stands for.'
