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ATV World (國際台), was one of two free-to-air English language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Pearl. Its sister station, ATV Home, broadcast in Cantonese language. It is owned and operated by Asia Television (Chinese: 亞洲電視有限公司), and was broadcast from the ATV Enterprises Office at 25–37 Dai Shing Street in Tai Po Industrial Estate in Tai Po, which is in the Tai Po District, in the North East region of Hong Kong's New Territories.

From Rediffusion to ATV

ATV World's English channel, Rediffusion Television, began as a cable-operated and subscription-based TV service on 29 May 1957 known on-air as Rediffusion Television Network, and on 30 September 1963, the channel was renamed Rediffusion Television Cantonese Channel and Rediffusion Television English Channel. On 1 February 1967, the channels were renamed RTV-1 and RTV-2 respectively. On 1 December 1973, Rediffusion Television was granted a free-to-air television broadcasting license for its two television channels, and closed its cable television channels. On 24 September 1982, Rediffusion Television was bought out by the new ATV, and consequently the Cantonese and English language channels were renamed ATV Cantonese and ATV English respectively. The channels were again renamed on 2 February 1987 as ATV Gold and ATV Diamond, and further renamed on 13 February 1989 as ATV Home and ATV World.

ATV World was a 24-hour channel with multi-lingual programmes, transmitted in NICAM in analogue version, and multiple AC-3 streams in digital version. While most of programmes were broadcast in Hong Kong English, a few were in either Standard Chinese, Korean or Japanese without Hong Kong English. It was less popular than its English-language rival station rival TVB Pearl, though by a far smaller margin than ATV Home's loss to Hong Kong Cantonese rival TVB Jade.

On 6 June 2012, ATV gained access to the London 2012 Olympic Games broadcast rights, and consequently the Games were shown on ATV World.

Shows on ATV World

ATV World was one of two English-language channels that broadcast in Hong Kong. It offered a variety of programmes, mostly from the United States, ranging from popular serial dramas and films to documentaries and educational shows. Among the shows it aired were:

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  Ally McBeal (甜心俏佳人)


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  BoBoiBoy (將博伊男孩)


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  BoBoiBoy The Movie (將博伊男孩: 這部電影)


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  The Closer (真相追擊)


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  The District (華府執法令)


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  The Practice (法網豪情)


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  The Guardian (法外情真)


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  The Agency (特務中情局)


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  Boomtown (千面謎城)


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  Traveler (絕密謎途)


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  Cold Case (鐵證懸案)


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  CSI: Miami (鑑證行動組)


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  CSI: NY (鑑證紐約)


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  Jack & Bobby (錦繡年華)


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  Justice (法網風雲)


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  3 lbs (腦人間)


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  Eleventh Hour (換命一刻)


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  Commander in Chief (最高統帥)


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  Jericho (孤城)


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  Damages (法網裂痕)


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  Criminal Minds (心理追兇)


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  Private Practice (醫者伴我心)


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  E-Ring (五角任務)


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  Doctor Who (異世奇人)


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  Torchwood (超疑特工)


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  Elizabeth I (伊利沙伯一世傳奇)


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  Ghost Whisperer (靈感應)


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  Love Monkey (樂壇有心人)


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  Grey's Anatomy (醫人當自強)


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  Smallville (超人前傳)


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  Survivor (生還者)


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  CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (滅罪鑑證科)


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  Hawaii Five-0 (夏威夷探案)


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  Eli Stone (大狀奇緣)


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  Psych (鬼靈偵探)


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  30 Rock (娛樂揸Fit人)


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  SpongeBob SquarePants (海綿寶寶)


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  Camp Lazlo (營拉茲洛)


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  Psych 2 (鬼靈偵探2)


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  Greatest American Dog (格鬥狗狗)

Now Playing

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  NCIS: Los Angeles (海狼特警)


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  Seconds From Disaster (世紀的災難)


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  CSI: NY (鑑證紐約)


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  V (V–外星人)


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  Merlin (魔法穆林)


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  60 Minutes (60分鐘時事雜誌)


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  Hunter Hunted (獵殺)


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  The Dresden Files (鬼眼神探)


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  The Late News (夜間新聞)

ATV stopped carrying the talk show Late Show with David Letterman (大衛牙擦騷) as of 1 January 2009, but there was a grassroots movement to bring it back. Arts and sports programming were also offered (e.g. local horse racing, in Chinese 賽馬直擊). Mandarin and Korean programmes were available on ATV World at off-peak hours.

Warner Bros. Animation on ATV World

ATV World was one of two English-language channels that broadcast in Hong Kong. The Cartoon Network and Kids' WB, Boomerang (UK & Ireland) and many more.

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  Superman: The Animated Series (超人：动画系列)


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  Justice League (正義聯盟)


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  The Bugs Bunny Show (彈劾不過是不能難以石排灣)


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  Looney Tunes (樂一通)


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  Baby Looney Tunes (寶貝樂一通)


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  Loonatics Unleashed (樂一通超能特攻隊)


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  Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (傻大貓&崔弟的懸疑劇場)


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  Tom and Jerry Tales (猫和老鼠传奇)


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  Taz-Mania (躁狂塔斯)


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  Teen Titans Go! (少年悍將 GO！)


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  What's New Scooby-Doo (创建)


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  Xiaolin Showdown (決戰少林)

Programmes

ATV World's flagship English news programme was the "Main News and Weather Report at 7:30" provided under the collective effort of ATV News. It also relayed the Xinwen Lianbo news programme from Chinese television channel, CCTV-1, which is the primary channel of the Chinese television network, China Central Television (CCTV), in the People's Republic of China which is also available throughout Hong Kong.

Given its focus on Hong Kong English-language programming in a predominantly Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking market, ATV World carried relatively little advertising and was subsidised by ATV Home. Both of the-then free-to-air television companies in Hong Kong were required by the government to provide a Hong Kong English-language service. In the face of competition from TVB Pearl, ATV World had in recent years switched its focus from the provision of drama and movies to documentaries and natural history shows, probably because such programming is less expensive to acquire.

Since the Hong Kong government does not have its own television station, its agency Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) required the-then two domestic free television stations to broadcast their programmes and advertisements. One of the well known programmes is Educational Television (ETV) which began in 1971. This followed the Hong Kong education syllabus, serving as a reference for primary and secondary school students of mathematics, Hong Kong English, Putonghua and other school subjects. During the thirty-two-week school year, ETV programmes were shown on ATV World from 10:00 to 12:00 and TVB Pearl from 14:00 to 16:00 each weekday.

Non-English programmes

Both ATV World and TVB Pearl were permitted by the Broadcasting Authority of Hong Kong to broadcast non-Hong Kong English programmes for up to 20% of their daily transmission time, outside peak viewing time. In fact, only 12% of TVB Pearl programmes are in languages other than Hong Kong English: 83.6% of those (10% of its total transmission time) are in Hong Kong Cantonese. The remainder include broadcasts in Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Hong Kong Cantonese.

Obtaining schedules

Schedules were published in the South China Morning Post, The Standard and in other daily Hong Kong newspapers, including Chinese newspapers.

ATV Website

ATV World operated its own official website which contained information about the programmes shown by the channel, and a streamed version of ATV News in English.

ATV goes off the air

On 1 April 2015, Hong Kong's Executive Council announced that ATV's broadcast license would not be renewed. ATV ceased over-the-air transmission on 1 April 2016. ATV plans to continue its business as a satellite and online broadcaster.^[1]

References