TVB Entertainment News

It was revealed yesterday that City Telecom’s Ricky Wong has a ‘new tactic’ in his poaching mission. In addition to using the ‘silver bullet’ [money] approach to attract artists to join his company, he is also using the ‘freedom’ approach – if TVB is interested in inviting any of the artists contracted to his company to participate in their series, the artists are free to choose whether they want to participate in the series or not. Asked about this ‘tactic’, Ricky Wong admitted it without hesitation: “Even right now, there are artists under my company’s management who are preparing to film series for TVB. In order for this industry to continue to develop in a healthy way, it’s necessary to give the artists freedom and space to develop.”

When TVB’s deputy director of external affairs Tsang Sing Ming heard about this ‘tactic’ from the mouth of the reporter, he appeared to ‘mock’ Ricky Wong’s action by saying: “TVB is a very responsible publicly-traded company, we fulfill our responsibility to society and respect the spirit of the contract. If someone already signed with another company, TVB will not try to take them away.”

In addition, it was reported yesterday that the chances of TVB fadan Charmaine Sheh joining City Telecom are extremely high, primarily because the company that is involved with the Mainland series that Charmaine is currently filming, "The Legend of the Empire Founder", has many collaborations with Ricky Wong and could serve as an intermediary for the 2 parties. Asked whether Charmaine Sheh has already joined City Telecom, Ricky Wong would only respond: “No comment.”

Also, it was said that Ricky Wong met with Yuen Wah and Teresa Mo the day before yesterday. Yuen Wah admitted that he had met with Ricky Wong, however they only discussed some preliminary criteria regarding salary. Currently filming a Mainland series, Yuen Wah stated that even though Ricky Wong offered a price that was higher than TVB, it can’t compare to the price he receives filming in the Mainland, therefore, he still needs to think about it. When Teresa Mo was asked about her meeting with Ricky Wong, she said that she will only respond about whether she actually met with him or not if there’s picture evidence that she did. Asked whether she would consider joining if Ricky Wong really did meet with her, Teresa expressed that it would depend on whether the timing was right.