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HK's TVB says to inject cash in pay-TV unit -paper
Reuters, 09.21.02, 1:18 AM ET
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HONG KONG, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's dominant
free-to-air broadcaster Television Broadcasts Ltd will inject
cash into its pay-TV unit to woo partners, a shift from plans
to launch the operation only on investors money, a newspaper
said on Saturday.
"We will inject a modest amount of money into Galaxy," The
Standard quoted TVB's <0511.HK> managing director Louis Page as
saying after the annual general meeting of media firm Shaw
Brothers <0080.HK>, which owns 26 percent of the broadcaster.
The paper did not mention the exact size of TVB's
injection. TVB's officials were not immediately available for
comments.
The broadcaster had previously planned to launch its pay TV
unit, Galaxy, solely on funding from investors.
"It's a little different now. We need to be realistic,"
Page told reporters, referring to the media industry downturn.
Shares in TVB, which closed at HK$24.05 on Friday, had
slumped about a third in the past three months but they were
about 16 percent higher than a year ago.
The government previously required TVB to reduce its stake
in Galaxy to below 50 percent by June to promote competition in
Hong Kong's pay-TV market, which has three players and is
dominated by i-Cable Communications <1097.HK>.
The deadline has been extended to February next year as TVB
failed to secure investors.
Media reports have said TVB had cut Galaxy's value to less
than HK$1 billion from as much as HK$2.9 billion to make the
proposition more attractive to investors.
TVB said earlier this month its first-half profit had
dropped 35 percent to HK$161.87 million as lower advertising
sales in a weak local economy curbed revenue.
Copyright 2002, Reuters News Service
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