DBC on brink of closing unless founders Albert Cheng and Bill Wong can strike deal
Shareholders must come to an agreement by tomorrow in order to save the station
The Digital Broadcasting Corporation will today begin a 100-hour countdown to closure - unless shareholders agree a last-ditch deal for a change of ownership
The broadcaster's co-founder, Albert Cheng King-hon, said yesterday that he had made a formal proposal to major shareholder Bill Wong Cho-bau that would see Cheng buy Wong's stake at a 50 per cent discount, or vice versa.
The city's first digital broadcaster is running out of cash after Wong allegedly went back on an agreement to pump in an additional HK$50 million. Investors had spent HK$150 million on the station since it was awarded a 12-year broadcasting licence in 2008. Its seven channels have been broadcasting since last year.
The dispute has left DBC struggling to pay staff. Programme hosts took a 50 per cent pay cut last month while top managers have not drawn any salary in an attempt to keep it on air. Cheng said the station had been relying on classified ads placed by its supporters.
Cheng and two other investors, Ronald Arculli and Morris Ho Kwok-fai, also paid DBC's HK$3.8 million licence fee for this year. Cheng says the three own more than 40 per cent of the company. Other shareholders include Executive Council member Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and banker David Li Kwok-po.
Cheng has given Wong a deadline of 6pm today ahead of a board meeting tomorrow.