HONG KONG: In a blow to Asia Television Limited's aspiration to turn from a money-losing TV station to a profitable listed company, Chairman Linus Cheung was confirmed to be leaving the company after persistent rumors last week.

An ATV spokeswoman told China Daily that the broadcaster's Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Cheung as a director and chairman. The Board said it is deeply grateful to Mr Cheung for his efforts and contributions. Cheung has not made any public comments.

Linus Cheung was brought in by ATV majority shareholder, the Payson Cha family of the Mingly Group, almost exactly a year ago, with a mandate to turn around the fortune of the company in two to three years, and eventually list the company on the stock market.

Amid rumors that ATV may introduce new shareholders with a mainland background, Liu Changle, the chairman of Phoenix Satellite TV who is also a minority shareholder at ATV, said he has no plans to sell his shares. He added he is not aware of any new mainland shareholders.

The Broadcasting Authority said it has been notified of Linus Cheung's resignation that was offered for personal reasons. The regulatory body added it has not been informed of any changes in ATV's shareholders.

"Linus Cheung's departure has been an open secret inside ATV since last week," a current ATV employee told China Daily. "The atmosphere and the morale are no different today; actually it is a lot better than the time when a lot of people lost their jobs," he said.

The company has already released over 200 staff this year, but said in June that the situation had stabilized. ATV's Chief Executive Nancy Hu Gin-ing was quoted as saying that there would be no more massive layoffs or downsizing. "Layoffs affected staff morale, but everything is stable now," she said.

Cheung's departure was a surprise, given that in October he said to Shue Yan University's journalism students that although ATV's situation was difficult, the company has good prospects.

"If the company had no prospects, I wouldn't have undertaken the task," Cheung said.

Cheung was brought in to ATV after serving as senior executive at several blue chip companies, including Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong Telecom and PCCW. He has also worked for the government's Central Policy Unit.

Cheung's initial management team included Ricky Wong Wai-kay, founding chairman of the listed company City Telecom, as Chief Executive Officer, but Wong left after only twelve days. ATV's current CEO Nancy Hu Gin-ing is a former actress from Taiwan. She used to worked as an executive for ATV's Taiwanese billionaire shareholder Tsai Eng-men, who controls Want Want Holdings, China's largest rice-cake maker.

ATV, the smaller of the city's two free-to-air television companies, has been struggling financially for decades since its competitor Television Broadcasts Limited enjoys the lion's share of viewership and advertising revenue.

ATV may soon have new competition, as Cable TV said in July that it wants to start a free-to-air television station, although no substantial progress has yet been reported on that front.

(HK Edition 12/08/2009 page4)