When mainland star athlete Liu Xiang made his shock exit from the Olympics on Monday, it was hot news in cyberspace.
I-Cable Communications said the video clip showing Liu pulling out from the men's 110m hurdles because of injury attracted more than 10,000 hits within an hour of being put on the company's portal.
I-Cable is betting free online video services will be a new growth driver after its online live video coverage of the Beijing Olympics generated a good response from Net surfers.
While some market watchers doubt a free service can be converted into a reliable revenue stream, i-Cable has high hopes. It needs to boost revenue after losing exclusive Barclays Premier League coverage to Now TV last year.
Last week, it said revenue fell 10 per cent in the first half as subscribers spent less on pay-television offerings.
I-Cable, which holds the exclusive new media rights to the Olympics in Hong Kong, said live Web coverage had drawn a phenomenal response. Its dedicated Olympic portal attracted 100 million hits and delivered close to 10 million video streams to viewers in the first 10 days of the Games.