Perhaps TVB needs some competition in order to improve (Part 2 in a series)

Out of those who hope for TVB to improve, roughly half feel that in these past few years, TVB’s priorities have been misplaced – without much competition to fire it up, the station’s focus has been on reducing production costs and so recently have not developed any ‘creative’ new shows.

For those shows that are supposedly based on ‘new ideas’ – many times, we can find the ‘original form’ of the show when we look to the TV stations in other Asian regions, so in actuality, the shows cannot be attributed entirely to the ‘creativity’ of the locals (Hong Kong). In fact, even in the area of ‘basing on original’, Hong Kong often lags behind – just looking at the concept of ‘similar shows’: China, Taiwan, and other neighboring regions often come out with shows that are based on similar ideas faster than TVB does.

In the past, TVB rarely bought broadcasting rights for series and other programs produced overseas, however in the past few years, this has happened more often – unfortunately, the reason is primarily due to the lack of emphasis placed on its own creativity (hence the shrinking of production costs and resources).

Back when the Hong Kong television industry was at its peak (80s and early 90s), even though TVB was still ‘the one biggest station,’ it was very obvious that its creative talent was the driving force moving the industry forward. The talent and creativity that emerged at that time was strong enough to drive the expansion of the entire market -- not only servicing Hong Kong audiences, but also expanding to include all Chinese-speaking audiences residing in all corners of the world.

Nowadays, with the emergence of strong TV programs in China and Taiwan, the Chinese-speaking ‘market’ has been divided up and is no longer ‘enjoyed’ by Hong Kong exclusively. Add to that the emergence of satellite TV and the easy accessibility of TV shows on-line – both of which are huge threats to TVB’s once lucrative business of selling their programs to the overseas market.

In recent years, TVB’s focus has been primarily on servicing the local Hong Kong audience pool; however as members of this audience get older, they have less desire for innovation and creativity in programming, opting instead to stick with the ‘tried and true’ – which explains why TVB’s ratings continue to remain relatively steady and why middle-aged artists carry many of the leading roles in series.

Before, TVB only had 2 location channels – the Chinese-language ‘Jade’ channel and the English-language ‘Pearl’ channel – with the main focus resting of course on the Jade Channel. In efforts to cater to the majority of the audience pool at that time – the middle-aged, elderly, and ‘housewife’ crowds – the station decided to broadcast mostly TV series. The goal at that time was not really to provide excellent service, but rather to draw as little negative attention as possible (partly by not making major mistakes). However with the dawn of high definition – and the subsequent addition of more channels as a result – it is logical to think that there should be more room now to focus on the ‘service’ aspect. Unfortunately, up until this point, TVB still does not have any long-term plans for creating innovative or creative programming.

With the fierce competition in the mainland China television market, the industry has seen quick and significant progress in that region. Even with the many restrictions imposed by the government, the market continues to grow rapidly in China – the TV stations there are constantly producing shows that the audience has never seen before or new genres of shows that are often talked about in entertainment circles.

In terms of variety and diversity, TVB right now is truly lagging behind – perhaps it needs some ‘new’ competition in the future in order for it to progress.

Source: Ming Pao
Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics