Profile: Robert Chua Wah-peng, broadcaster with a responsible vision
Robert Chua was speaking from experience when he came out in favour of the government's decision to reject Ricky Wong's HKTV
Amid an increasingly fraught debate over free-to-air television licences, government supporters have been attempting to justify the decision to snub Hong Kong Television Network - an effort dismissed by many commentators as feeble and half-hearted.
Chua created one of the most successful television series in Hong Kong history, TVB's Enjoy Yourself Tonight, and founded China Entertainment Television (CETV), which struggled financially before being sold to US giant AOL Time Warner in 2000.
While the former show, which ran for 27 years, made Chua's name, it was the latter experience that led him to believe the government was right to reject the "less competitive" HKTV while licensing subsidiaries of cable broadcasters i-Cable and PCCW.
Chua said that if HKTV had been allowed to join the market alongside TVB, ATV and the two newcomers, the five stations would have seen combined operating costs hit HK$10 billion per year. With television advertising spending stable at HK$5 billion per year, the stations would have shared losses of HK$5 billion.
Even without HKTV, the battle for free-to-air viewers looks set to become a dogfight. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Chua urged the four channels to focus on small-scale programmes that are informative, educational and entertaining to fulfil their social responsibilities while winning viewers.