Hong Kong Cable Television Limited (), formerly known as Wharf Cable Television Limited () until 31 October 1998, is a cable television provider in Hong Kong currently owned by Forever Top (Asia) Limited, which operates it as a part of

i-Cable Communications i-Cable Communications Limited () is Hong Kong telecommunications company owned by Forever Top (Asia) Limited, which acquired the company from The Wharf Group in 2017. Founded in 1999, the company provides broadband internet and pay-TV servi ...

business. It was the second company to provide cable television service in Hong Kong (after

Rediffusion Television Rediffusion Television (RTV) was the first television station in Hong Kong, making it both the first British colony and the first predominantly ethnically Chinese city to have television.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). Television, Regulation and ...

, which ceased cable operation with the launch of their

terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ante ...

channels in 1973). It was incorporated on 30 June 1993 and officially inaugurated on 31 October same year, offering a package of over 100 pay television channels, 54 of which are directly operated by the company.

History

The company was founded as Wharf Cable Television (), incorporated on 30 June 1993. Cable-based transmissions were officially inaugurated by the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kon ...

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life ...

. Wharf Cable Television changed its name to Hong Kong Cable Television () on 31 October 1998. In October 2001, Hong Kong Cable Television became the first cable television channel in Hong Kong to carry live broadcasts of

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

. In later years, it carried live coverage of the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, as well as the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in London. With the largest number of subscribers of subscription television companies in Hong Kong, HKCTV became one of the top five media groups in Hong Kong. According to the financial summary of i-CABLE Communications Limited in 2004, its sales revenue reaches HK$2,372 million with a profit of HK$296 million.

Ownership

Hong Kong Cable Television Limited was owned as a subsidiary group of

The Wharf (Holdings) Limited The Wharf (Holdings) Limited (), or Wharf (九倉) in short, is a company founded in 1886 in Hong Kong. As its name suggests, the company's original business was in running wharfage and dockside warehousing, and it was originally known as Th ...

, which held 73.3% of HKCTV's shares. The rest of its ownership lies with public shareholders. It became a public listed company on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...

in 1999. HKCTV is operated by

, a non-media conglomerates in Hong Kong which also operates a pay-TV service and a broadband Internet access service provider with an Internet Protocol network. i-Cable owns and runs the second largest two-way broadband network, which produces media programmes, online news and other Internet services. In 2017, i-Cable was sold to Forever Top (Asia) Limited.

References

External links

Hong Kong Cable Enterprises Limited

Hong Kong Cable Television Limited

i-Cable Satellite TV Limited

i-cable.com

The Wharf (Holdings) Limited
{{Television in Hong Kong Cable television in Hong Kong The Wharf (Holdings) Television stations in Hong Kong Television channels and stations established in 1993