TVB produces 520 hours of dramas and programs each year, and there are non-drama programs too. Program Arrangement Strategic Planner and Production Department Vice-Director (Mr. Ho Koon Chung) accepted [Mingpao]'s exclusive interview and reveals the program arrangements for the Dragon year and the future influence on television, including the inactive TV ratings, housewife audience, poor broadcast periods ('ashes') and even break the conspiracy rumors that suppress the series.
The three new free TV channel applications still have not been approved by the government, but the related TV stations have already put their fists up and are ready to attack. TVB's Mr. Ho calmly said: "It is good that there are new competitors, the industry can have a hundred flowers bloom and bring in new strikes. However, please don't 'wear the same pants', steal the same group of artists and shoot the same type of TV programs. The same productions method is not a blessing to audience. (This year, will TVB have to watch out in the battle, as there are new competitors?) In fact, we have long term arrangements for our programs. We also have the flexibility to make changes, it could change by the day and it's not difficult, but actually its a question of will the change be positive or negative? [We] have to consider this. More importantly, we want to pursue stability. TVB employs many skilled and experienced behind-the-scenes crew and we are an old company, so we seek 'within the stability, seek breakthrough and improvement'."
HK$10 million production, each episode 90 minutes
Mr. Ho believes the greatest momentum for a series is one with a strong theme. This June, TVB plans to release grand production series Tiger Cubs on the Weekend (Sat/Sun). "The series is 13 episodes, each episode being 90 minutes. This is the first Hong Kong TV production that centers around the Special Duties Unit. The production fee for each episode is nearly HK$1 million, which is higher compared to other series. This time we plan to open up the weekend prime time hours. 20 years ago, Files of Justice was also broadcast on Sundays. In June, we will first broadcast Tiger Cubs on Sundays, then in July, we will start doing both Saturday and Sundays. In the past, the Saturday TV ratings have been quite strong. This year iCable won the broadcast rights for the Olympics, so TVB will have to do even better to fight for viewers from our competitors."
Season 1 : The Romance Season
* To accommodate Valentine's Day
- Series: 4 In Love (Moses Chan, Charmaine Sheh)
- Variety Show: Matching Game (登登登對) hosted by Margie Tsang and Bob Lam
Season 2 : Off Season (May is Poor, June is Dead End '五窮六絕')
* To counter the off season, must have strong productions
- Series: The Boxing King (Kevin Cheng, Raymond Wong)
- Series: House of Harmony and Vengeance (Bobby Au-Yeung, Myolie Wu)
Season 3 : Summer Season
* The season where kids are on summer vacation, time to serve the young viewers.
- Series: Return to the Three Kingdoms (Raymond Lam, Kenneth Ma)
Season 4 : TVB Anniversary Season
* Welcome audience with grand productions, the plans have been set temporarily, but Mr. Ho is unwilling to reveal which series will broadcast at at this time.
The 'ashes' broadcast periods
Holidays, long breaks, students taking finals are all factors that make up what the producers call the period of 'ashes' (off season). Mr. Ho admitted there has recently been more producers upset about their series being pushed into this broadcast period. "There is indeed some broadcast periods that are naturally weaker, TVB does not take a break in supplying series in the mid-year, nor can TVB be sloppy during the off season. As I said, every day is a good day, hope to bring good shows everyday and have no biased. Audience have higher and higher expectations, so the off season period should have even better shows to draw in more viewers to turn on their TVs. I understand producers want their productions to broadcast in the advantageous periods, to gain the best effect, but the program department has confidence for those series, so the arrangement is to keep the viewers."
Mr. Ho reassures his colleagues that they should not be too worried about there being less viewers because the future will just have more and more TVB audience because the company is opening up their windows and is going international. "We do not just face Hong Kong audience, but Chinese people all over the world. During Lunar New Year, HK TV ratings is on the off season mode, but in Malaysia, it is the golden peak period. The locals love catching up on the series during the long vacation and we broadcast our series simultaneously with Malaysia. There are also a bunch of Mainland video streaming websites, the click rates for TVB series are growing. HK audience TV ratings is an important index, but it does not represent all. The television world is getting more and more complex."
The 'Housewife Audiences'
TVB Jade Channel is known as the 'Housewife Channel' because most of its viewers are housewives. "The housewife group is quite large, compared to other groups, they spend more time in front of the TV, but it that doesn't really mean they have low sense of appreciation and are conservative. Just like the recent When Heaven Burns, the housewife audience wrongly took the blame, it's not that they didn't understand, perhaps it is because they don't have the patience or mental state to catch the series. After all, television is different from films, it is necessary to keep the audience focus on watching. When Heaven Burns, lost some housewife audience, but the most viewers were the young audience."
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