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SCMP Reporter

I-Cable Communications' Cable TV,  still trying to recover from the loss to rival PCCW Now TV of rights to show English Premier League football games,  is  taking a beating on another front. Now TV's  Business News Channel has surpassed i-Cable News Channel in terms of ratings.
Sources told Media Eye that Now Business News Channel had been the most watched of all pay-television news channels since June.
Independent rating agency CSM  included Now TV in a recent survey for the ratings data  along with Television Broadcasts, Asia Television and i-Cable.
'A pilot test survey last month by CSM that included Now TV showed Now Business News Channel beating i-Cable News Channel in the afternoon and prime-time slot at night,' a source said.
An internal  survey  by PCCW  echoed the pilot test results. The Business News Channel rated higher than i-Cable's financial news channel in September  last year and  beat i-Cable's news channel in June. Sources declined to give the figures until CSM announced the  ratings.
'We only took 18 months to win over i-Cable. This should benefit our advertising income,' a source said.
I-Cable, seeking to regain advertisers' confidence, said  this week  its  viewership was the highest among all pay-television platforms,   drawing more than 81 per cent of the viewership among the 1.43 million sample subscribers' base for the year  to June.  Citing the Nielsen Media Index, it said  rivals had viewerships of 38 per cent to 64 per cent.
I-Cable said  its news channel had a daily audience base of 772,000 in the surveyed period.
'Our news channel's audience coverage is much wider than radio and  newspapers,' Hong Kong Cable Enterprises general manager Sam Tsang said yesterday.
Golden Harvest's Chow sells out
Raymond Chow Ting-hsing, the former chairman and founder of Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings), announced his retirement last week by selling his stake in the firm to   Chengtian Entertainment Group, owned by Wu Kebo.
Mr Chow will pocket about HK$200 million  from his 25 per cent stake in Golden Harvest, which has financed and  made more than 600 films since its founding   in 1970.
Chengtian, a mainland group whose interests include film production and distribution, will take control of the company.
Media Eye has learned   another  entertainment group, Huayi Brothers, had also  expressed interest in  Golden Harvest before Chengtian won the blessing from Mr Chow.
One reason for Chengtian - whose artists include  Hong Kong's  Gigi Kwan, Carina Lau and Tony Leung Ka-fai - emerging as the winning suitor was its  business model was  like Golden Harvest's.
'Chengtian has been in the mainland entertainment business for many years,' Mr Chow said at a press conference on Monday.  'As we share the same view on developing the movie business in China, I decided to sell my company to Chengtian's Mr Wu.'
He did not elaborate  much on how well he knew Mr Wu to the extent of having the confidence to sell him his life's work.
Mr Chow, who turned 80 in May, only said: 'When I celebrated my 80th  birthday, I found that I was really very old. I have been in the industry for  decades, and it's time  to step down and let the younger generation run the business.'
Mr Wu  has been in the industry for many years.
Chengtian to meet HK press
Chengtian  is  planning to meet the press in Hong Kong this week. Even so, Media Eye found it surprising  the companies did not host a joint press conference  about the deal.
Mr Chow is  a movie icon  in Hong Kong while Mr Wu   is a rising mainland media tycoon. It would have been ideal to  see them together in the same event.



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Now pummels Cable TV on  the news front