Chinese authorities have granted ATV, Hong Kong's second-largest free-to-air television network, the right to broadcast to Guangdong Province.

The approval would make ATV the fourth non-mainland TV network to broadcast legally into the economically booming Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. ATV is now in talks with Guangdong's state broadcasting bureau and the Guangdong Cable TV network over details of the deal.

The company's ATV Home and ATV World channels will be carried by the Guangdong Cable TV network, ATV Chief Executive Chan Wing-kee said in a statement.

"This approval is a major breakthrough for ATV," Chan said.

The approval comes two months after Liu Changle, a Chinese mainland businessman and former publicity official in the People's Liberation Army, became ATV's controlling shareholder with a 46 percent stake.

Liu is already chairman of Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings, the first non-mainland network to be permitted to broadcast on the mainland.

The new arrangement is likely to boost ATV's revenues by enabling it to tap into the rapidly growing advertising market on the mainland, giving it an edge over rival TVB, the dominant network in Hong Kong. Both broadcast via two channels, one in the local Cantonese dialect and the other in English and Mandarin.

Television Broadcasts nevertheless welcomed the news as a sign China is opening its television market, the world's largest, and giving formal access to programs that many Guangdong residents already watch in pirated form.

"This is very positive news," said Steven Chan, a spokesman for Television Broadcasts.

"This shows China is formally recognizing the intellectual rights."

Television Broadcasts is also talking to mainland authorities about landing rights, Chan said.

Asia Television's Chan said that he will negotiate with the Guangdong broadcasting bureau on how to increase the company's share of advertising revenue in the province.

He estimated that total advertising revenue in Guangdong will exceed 4 billion yuan (US$483 million) this year, of which about 600 million yuan is generated by Asia Television programs that are pirated by rogue cable operators who put in their own advertisements.

(eastday.com August 20, 2002)