Hong Kong’s leading free-to-air TV operator, Television Broadcasts (TVB), is set to undergo a significant restructuring, culminating in the termination of 300 employees, constituting 8% of its already diminished workforce. The company, navigating a challenging economic landscape, disclosed this strategic move in a regulatory filing on Monday.
In this initiative, 200 positions will be eliminated from TVB’s program production division, accompanied by the consolidation of two of its five channels. Furthermore, the Zstore e-commerce segment will witness downsizing, resulting in an additional 100 job cuts. These measures, subject to regulatory approval, mark the second wave of staff reductions this year, following the March announcement that saw 255 employees laid off, bringing the total headcount to 3,600 as of June.
TVB’s proposed merger involves combining its J2 channel, catering to a youthful audience, with the TVB Finance, Sports & Information channel to birth a new entity, TVB+. The envisioned channel aims to offer a diverse array of content targeting a younger demographic, spanning dramas, variety shows, sports, and informational programs. It also seeks to integrate free-to-air TV content with interactive elements on digital platforms like myTV SUPER and TVB’s social media accounts.
As part of this realignment, financial news will no longer have a dedicated channel, with relevant content distributed across the remaining Jade and TVB+ channels. TVB anticipates that the unified appeal of TVB+ will attract a broader audience compared to the current J2 and FSI channels, thereby presenting an enhanced value proposition for advertisers.
In the regulatory filing, TVB outlined its cost-saving strategies, indicating a reduction in production budgets for fringe-hour content and discontinuation of programs falling short of audience or commercial impact targets. Besides the previously announced HK$260 million ($33.3 million) annual cost savings, TVB aims to achieve an additional HK$100 million ($12.9 million) in content cost savings in 2024, accompanied by a headcount reduction of over 200 staff in the production business unit.
Additionally, TVB disclosed plans to merge its Ztore online platform with Neigbuy, positioning Ztore as an integral component of Neigbuy. Emphasizing Neigbuy’s distinctive pre-sale model, where customers order and pay for a product before Neigbuy procures the stock, TVB highlighted the advantages of this approach, such as mitigating inventory pressure and adapting swiftly to market dynamics.
Facing financial challenges, TVB has reported losses for five consecutive years, with the figures escalating from HK$281 million in 2020 to HK$807 million in 2022. The first half of 2023 witnessed a further increase in losses to HK$407 million ($51.9 million), marking an 84% rise from HK$224 million in the corresponding period of 2022, exacerbated by a downturn in e-commerce revenue post-pandemic.
