Hong Kong Television launches OTT entertainment platform

Grand Launch of HKTV for Hong Kong – Always Something New

HONG KONG — Hong Kong Television Network Limited (“HKTV”) today announced its grand launch! Born with new face and operations, this new HKTV platform provides one-stop shop solution consolidating entertainment, online shopping and delivery services, which maybe Hong Kong’s largest entertainment cum online shopping mall platform!

Starting from today, HKTV’s self-produced drama series, as well as variety and infotainment programs are now available for everyone in Hong Kong, which is believed to be the most attentive thing in the town. While the contents are distributed through Over-The-Top, various Internet-connected devices such as smart TVs, Android TV boxes, game consoles, smartphones running on Android, iOS and Windows, tablets and personal computers can access to our programs. In future, we will be open to cooperate with different platforms, extending the reach of HKTV’s high quality contents to population all over Hong Kong.

Our programs are accessible through video-on-demand and live cast. For video-on-demand, you only have to leave some basic information before viewing, while no information will be required to fill in for watching live programs. By either way, programs can be watched for free, with details as follows :

Live Channel

• Monday to Friday : 6 hours’ fresh programs daily, including 1 hour’s self-produced drama, 2 hours’ live shopping program “Shopping Hero” and 3 hours’ drama and animation from Japan and Korea
• Saturday and Sunday : 4 hours’ fresh programs daily, including 1 hour’s self-produced drama or 1 hour’s variety and infotainment program (consists of 2 episodes, each of half an hour) and 3 hours’ drama and animation from Japan and Korea

Video-On-Demand

• Programs are available even earlier than live channel, which can be viewed through video-on-demand starting from 6am on the same day

Our programs are also available through video portal or TV stations to overseas audience such as Mainland, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

On technical perspective, HKTV is the first company deploying 100Gbps connectivity to Hong Kong Internet Exchange (HKIX). Currently, we have 220Gbps bandwidth connecting HKIX, and 130Gbps direct peering to other Internet Service Providers and mobile operators in Hong Kong, which will be sufficient to cater for 300,000 to 400,000 concurrent viewers.

Separately, TV, mobile phones and personal computers will have 1080p resolution, which the bandwidth requirement will vary with the receiving devices. For instance, if the programs are to be watched on TV, it will require 2-4Mbps while it will only take 0.5-1Mbps for smartphones. Moreover, our system will adjust automatically to 9 adaptive bit rates, depending on the screen size of the receiving device, WiFi or mobile data connectivity. One thing that is worthy to note is that in the first one to two weeks upon the launch, the resolution will be limited to 720p to cater for more viewers, and will fully upgrade to 1080p afterwards.

The other distinguishing feature for HKTV’s new platform is that, it has captured 333 brands from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. This one-stop shop online shopping platform will offer extremely wide variety of products, including but not limited to men’s and ladies’ fashion, jewelry, supermarket, electronic products, household appliances, sports and outdoor products, pet accessories, healthcare food, lifestyle, food and beverages, that serves every aspect of your lives.

Customers will enjoy free delivery service upon purchase of HK$400 or above from 2 stores, receiving ordered products on the same day or next day. Mindful of the current consumer trend, HKTV will introduce plenty of Japanese and Korean fashion brands with expected delivery in 4 working days. Specifically, Japanese goods will only have around 10% mark-up compared to their local retail prices, inclusive of flight and delivery charges.

HKTV believes that, online shopping does not only deliver physical goods, but also delightful experience. Therefore, we have set up a logistics centre at Kowloon Bay, and the team will expand to 300 delivery assistants and 120 vehicles, delivering high quality goods and services to our customers.

To ensure system stability and seamless services, the new HKTV platform will expand by phases : our programs will be available on live channel and video-on-demand starting from today, while online shopping segment will commence in early January 2015.

In view of the change of business model, HKTV will adjust its development steps. The construction work at Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, which was suspended over the past year, will resume to support HKTV’s new business development. The new multimedia production centre will have gross floor area of 300,000 sq. ft, including 4 studios which will be completed in the first half of 2016.

Apart from this, if market response towards our programs meets expectation, HKTV will adjust it content direction and pace according to the public opinion, and will resume the production of drama and other programs in the second quarter of 2015 at the soonest.

At the grand launch luncheon for “HKTV for Hong Kong – Always Something New”, apart from our merchants and advertisers, there are 61 artistes joining the event, witnessing this memorable moment.

Chairman of HKTV, Ricky Wong said, “The slogan of our new platform is ‘Always Something New’, symbolizing a new milestone for HKTV, as well as a new milestone for Hong Kong people. We embrace changes, and embrace our new way of living.”