ATV Home () was a

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

television channel in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, owned and operated by

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial televis ...

. It was formed in September 1963 as a result of the split of the bilingual

Rediffusion Television Rediffusion Television (, RTV) was a defunct television station in Hong Kong. It was the city's first broadcaster and the first in any British colony or majority-Chinese city.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). ''Television, Regulation and Civil Soci ...

subscription service (which was primarily owned by British company

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (TV network ...

) into dedicated Cantonese and English-language services. In 1969, the broadcaster was granted a license for over-the-air broadcasting. Facing heavy competition from its free-to-air competitor

TVB Jade TVB Jade (), or simply Jade, is a Hong Kong Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese-language Terrestrial television, free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) as its flagship service, alongside its sister n ...

, a change in ownership in 2010 and an attempt to cut back on dramas in favour of more current affairs, news, and talk programming resulted in further financial losses and internal conflicts. Owing to ATV's deterioration and other issues, on 31 March 2015 ATV's over-the-air broadcasting license was revoked effective 2 April 2016; the channel signed off shortly before midnight on 1 April 2016, and was replaced on analogue transmission by

RTHK TV 31 RTHK TV 31 (, formerly RTHK TV 31A for analogue TV) is a 24-hour Chinese-language free-to-air television channel in Hong Kong, owned by RTHK. It is one of RTHK's six channels alongside RTHK TV 32, RTHK TV 33, RTHK TV 34, RTHK TV 35 and RTHK ...

History

Rediffusion Television

ATV Home, in addition to Asia Television's history, traces back to

, which was Hong Kong's first television service. The service launched on 29 May 1957, and a subscription fee of HK$25 was required to watch programming, which was considered to be expensive at the time. On 30 September 1963, Rediffusion launched its Cantonese service, and the channel was christened "Rediffusion Television Cantonese Channel" (). This would lay the groundwork for what will eventually become ATV Home. On 1 February 1967, the channel was renamed "RTV-1" (). On 10 November 1969, Rediffusion was granted a free-to-air television broadcasting license for RTV-1, in addition to its English sister channel RTV-2 (). However, RTV was beaten to launch by a competitor,

Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

. This late arrival would have a major negative impact on new service's viewership, up until its eventual demise in 2016. The channel in early September 1982 stopped airing the Japanese drama series ''The Rise of Shogun'' after airing two of its eight episodes, due to concerns over the rewritten history of Japan and glossing over occupation in the early 1940s.

Asia Television

On 24 September 1982, Rediffusion Television was bought out by a locally owned enterprise called Far East Group (). The new owner renamed Rediffusion to Asia Television, and consequently, the channel was renamed "ATV Cantonese" (). On 2 February 1987, the channel was again renamed, to "ATV Gold" (). Far East Group eventually sold its ATV holdings to local conglomerate Lai Sun Group, and the channel was renamed on 13 February 1989, to "ATV Home" (). In 2015, former ATV executive Selina Chow revealed that the station's new name was supposed to be "ATV Hong Kong" (), but the station was forced to scrap the name, in favor of ATV Home (), after Secretary for Administrative Services and Information Peter Tsao opposed the name. In September 2015, ATV planned to rebrand the channel as ATV-1 Hong Kong ();葉家寶稱已獲批准調整亞視現有頻道申請
，ATV News，29 September 2015 the plan came to a premature end due to the end of its license.

Competitive disadvantage

Due to its relatively late arrival as a free-to-air Cantonese-language TV station, lesser known actors and lower operating budgets, ATV Home struggled to compete with its Cantonese rival

. While the station's programs did, on occasions, lowered TVB's ratings, TVB always managed to eventually regain the lost ratings.

Programming

Although less popular or numerous than TVB drama series, ATV-produced dramas are still well received. Some have attained popular and critical acclaim, such as ''Crocodile Tears'' (), ''Fatherland'' (), ''The Legendary Fok'' (), ''Central Affairs I and II'' () and ''Reincarnated'' (). Recent productions of note include ''The Pride of Chao Zhou'' (), ''Who is the Winner?'' (), ''King of the Gambler'' () and ''The Good Old Days'' (). In recent years ATV has created and hosted certain large-scale award shows, the most well-known of which would probably be ''The Annual Most Popular TV Commercial Awards'' (). Other 'infotainment' programmes like ''Stories From Afar'' () are ranked highly by public reviews, such as the ''Appreciation Index Survey Best Television Awards'' (). Some ATV programmes, such as the entertainment news show '' Hong Kong Today'' (今日睇真D) and ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...

?'' (), have proven to be particularly popular, prompting their rival TVB to offer similar shows, such as ''Focus On Focus'' () and ''Weakest Link'' (一筆OUT消), respectively.

Well-known programmes

*aTV

Miss Asia Pageant ATV Miss Asia Pageant () is an annual Hong Kong–based beauty pageant organized and broadcast by Asia Television (ATV). Originating in 1985 as a local Hong Kong pageant, the contest went on a hiatus from 2000 through 2003, and was re-branded as an ...

(1985–2014) *aTV Mr. Asia Contest (2005, 2011–) *

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

(2001–2005) *

Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies typically take place in April, and have mostly been held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre since 1991. The a ...

(2010, 2011) * Cheers Hong Kong (2011–)

Drama series

* 1984: Drunken Fist 醉拳王無忌 * 1984: Drunken Fist II 醉拳王無忌之日帝月后 * 1993: Fatal Love 危情 * 1993:

and Shanghai Godfather Season 1 (再見黃埔灘1之中國教父) * 1994:

and Shanghai Godfather Season 2 (再見黃埔灘2之再起風雲) * 1994: Bays of Being Parents () * 1994: Beauty Pageant (ATV) () * 1994: Secret Battle of the Majesty () * 1994: Outlaw Hero () * 1994: The Kungfu Master () * 1994:

A Cruel Lover A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

() * 1995: Pao Qingtian (a.k.a. Judge Bao) () * 1995:

Fist of Fury ''Fist of Fury'' () is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Lo Wei and produced by Raymond Chow. The film stars Bruce Lee in his major role after '' The Big Boss'' (1971). Bruce Lee also worked as the film's action choreographer. ...

() * 1995: Vampire Expert Season 1 (僵屍道長1) * 1996: I Have a Date with Spring () * 1996: The Little Vagrant Lady () * 1996: King of Gamblers () * 1996: Vampire Expert Season 2 (僵屍道長2) * 1996: Tales From The Dorms () * 1996: The Little Vagrant Lady II ( II ) * 1997: Forrest Cat Season 1 (肥貓正傳1) * 1997: Year of Chameleon (97 ) * 1997: Coincidentally () * 1997: Pride of Chaozhou () * 1997:

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

() * 1998: Thou Shalt Not Cheat () * 1998: The Heroine of the Yangs () * 1998: Heroine of the Yangs II ( II ) * 1998: I Come From Guangzhou () * 1998:

My Date with a Vampire My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Marke ...

() * 1999: Ten Tigers of Guangdong () co-produced with the Sanlih Network from Taiwan * 1999:

Flaming Brothers ''Flaming Brothers'' is a 1987 Hong Kong crime action film directed by Joe Cheung. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Alan Tang (who also produced the film), Pat Ha, and Jenny Tseng. The film was shot in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand. The film w ...

() * 1999: Forrest Cat Season 2 (肥貓正傳2) * 2000: My Date with a Vampire 2 (我和殭屍有個約會II) * 2000: Showbiz Tycoon * 2001: To Where He Belongs * 2001: Healing Hearts () * 2002: Mission in Trouble * 2004: Asian Heroes * 2004: My Date with a Vampire 3 – the Eternal Legend (我和殭屍有個約會III之永恆國度) * 2006:

Walled Village A walled village () is a type of large traditional multi-family communal living structure found in China, that is designed to be easily defensible. It is completely surrounded by thick defensive walls, protecting the residents from the attack ...

* 2006: Relentless Justice (AKA No Turning Back) * 2008: Flaming Butterfly () * 2008: The Men of Justice () * 2012: Heart's Beat for Love ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atv Home Asia Television Defunct television channels Television channels and stations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Hong Kong Television channels and stations disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Hong Kong Chinese-language television stations