TVB, Hong Kong’s Top Broadcaster, to Lay-Off 300 Staff and Cut Channels
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Television Broadcasts (TVB), long the dominant free-to-air TV operator in Hong Kong is to dismiss 300 staff, or 8% of its already reduced workforce, in a further cost cutting move.
The company said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it will shed 200 staff from its program production operations, merge two of its five channels and reduce its Zstore e-commerce business, with the loss of an additional 100 jobs.
The moves, some of which require regulatory approval, are the second staff reduction to be announced this year. In March, TVB cut 255 employees, taking its headcount to 3,600 as of June.TVB is proposing to merge its J2 channel (offering content and programs aimed at a young audience) with its TVB Finance, Sports & Information channel and to create TVB+.
The new channel will create “a diverse range of young audience content, including dramas and variety shows, sports, and informational programs.” It will also “link up free-to-air TV content with interactive content on our digital platforms such as myTV SUPER and TVB social media accounts.” Financial news will no longer have a dedicated channel and, instead, content will be dissipated across the remaining channels Jade and TVB+ channels. “We expect TVB+ will appeal to a larger combined audience than our current J2 and FSI channels, and thus also deliver a stronger value proposition to advertisers,” TVB said in the filing. “We will reduce our production budgets for fringe-hour content and discontinue any programs that fall short of their desired audience or commercial impact.
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