Why the demise of ATV will matter to one long-time fan
Television is To's connection to the world. He doesn't read newspapers or magazines, nor does he have the opportunity to go out a lot and mingle.
To Ying-cheung - a single elderly man - watches ATV out of habit.
The 73-year-old lives in housing for the elderly at Fu Cheong Estate - a public complex in Sham Shui Po. After his lung function deteriorated drastically two years ago, To started using an oxygen machine to help him breathe. It became impossible for him to leave home for long stretches of time.
Television is To's connection to the world. He doesn't read newspapers or magazines, nor does he have the opportunity to go out a lot and mingle.
"Closing ATV affects me enormously," he said, fiddling with his small television screen which shows only the two analogue free-to-air television channels. He sits on his bed, surrounded by stacked-up boxes of robot models - his other indoor pastime. "I watch ATV 90 per cent of the time."
He tunes in to ATV in time for the 6pm news, then watches the shows afterwards, favouring documentaries and information programmes. He skips the Korean dramas and switches to the English-language Pearl channel to watch documentaries on animals, he says. He keeps the TV on until he sleeps - usually after midnight.
Many of analogue television's faithful patrons are like To - elderly, confined to their homes most of the time and with few alternative entertainment and information channels. It is this group which is likely to suffer most from ATV's demise, after it was announced last week that the broadcaster's free-to-air licence would expire next April 1.