Hong Kong broadcaster ATV fined HK$300,000 over 'bombshell' report that proved false

Television station ATV was fined HK$300,000 yesterday for airing a false news report in March saying its major investor would sell his controlling stake to Ricky Wong Wai-kay's Hong Kong Television Network.

ATV, which was struggling to secure investors to inject fresh funds at the time, was penalised by the communications regulator for claiming that its de facto boss, Wong Ching, and his relative, Wong Ben-koon, had accepted an offer from HKTV's maverick chief to buy their 52.4 per cent stake.

The beleaguered free-to-air broadcaster dropped the bombshell in its Chinese-language newscast at 6pm on March 31, and repeated the report on two other channels.

Ricky Wong denied the reports the following day, saying he had struck no such deal.

The Communications Authority then later received 39 complaints about the "inaccurate" news reports that had "misled" viewers.

The authority said the ATV reports did not make clear that Wong Ching's decision to sell the controlling shares was a unilateral one.