Universal Music buys ATV timeslot to counteract TVB

Following the "royalty" issue between the Big 4 and TVB, the monopoly of TVB's music program broke as well. Earlier ATV announced that they will have Jacky Cheung appear on their network, yesterday they held another press conference and started off with broadcasting a clip of Jacky's interview. ATV's executive (Yip Ka Bo) also announced that in the upcoming Tiger year, music will be used to send new year greetings to the audience with more productions and broadcast of music programs.

On the night of February 14th, ATV first broadcast the latest music program "Jacky Cheung's Private Corner" at 8:30pm. Starting on February 15th, the nightly news will be moved to 6pm, then "Music Express - 音樂快遞" will follow reporting all the latest music scene news, primarily focusing on sending reporters to get news on the the daily functions and events. Asked if any record company clearly stated that they will not accept ATV's interviews? Mr. Yip expressed no, there are several record companies welcoming ATV.

Also starting on February 15th, every night there will be a 1 minute program called "Universal Music Express Line" which is handled by Universal Music, ATV will receive the sponsoring fees. Actually it is just Universal buying the timeslot to promote their singers. The program will broadcast the singers new MVs.

ATV will also be producing a new music program called "娛樂紅人館", which will start on February 20th, broadcasting at 10:30pm. The program will invite singers for interviews, but they are currently in the process of contacting the guests to make their appearance, such as Kay Tse. ATV will also be airing "The 32nd RTHK Top Ten Music Awards" and Taiwan's "2009 Fifth KKBOX Music Awards" with winning artists including Jolin Tsai, Wang Lee Hom, Jay Chou, Mayday, etc.

Mr. Yip expressed that because of the Big 4 issue going on now, it is a great opportunity to use music to send new year greetings to the audience.

Source: Takungpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU