Hong Kong is a broadcasting hub in the Asia Pacific Region with 16 non-domestic television programme service licensees operating and broadcasting from Hong Kong. Altogether they broadcast a total of 194 satellite television channels serving over 300 millions viewers in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Africa, of which 47 channels were receivable in Hong Kong. The footprints of two major satellites Apstar IIR and AsiaSat 3S are shown in Figure 29.
A summary of the non-domestic television programme services as at August 2008 is set out in Figure 30.
Licensee |
Date of Launch
of
Service |
No. of Channels
(no. receivable in HK) |
Nature of
Channels |
Target Markets |
Satellite |
| 1. |
Starvision Hong Kong Limited |
|
4.1991 |
37
(0) |
General entertainment, movie, music, sports & news etc. |
Asian region including the Mainland, India & Middle East |
AsiaSat 3S
Measat 3 |
|
|
8.1998 |
30
(0) |
Drama, general entertainment, movie, & news etc. |
Asian region, Australia & Europe |
AsiaSat 3S
Apstar IIR
Intelsat 8
Eutelsat W5 |
| 3. |
APT Satellite TV Development Limited |
|
8.1998 |
51
(0) |
General entertainment, news, movies & sports |
Indo-China, Taiwan, Macau & HK |
Apstar V
Apstar VI |
| 4. |
Starbucks (HK) Limited |
|
6.2000 |
1
(1) |
Weather, sports, music and video games etc. |
Asia-Pacific region |
AsiaSat 3S |
|
|
4.2001 |
1
(0) |
Movies & general entertainment |
All of Asia, Australia, Eastern Africa |
AsiaSat 3S |
| 6. |
China Entertainment Television Broadcast Limited |
|
3.1995 |
1
(1) |
General entertainment |
Mainland, Southeast Asia & Asia-Pacific region |
AsiaSat 3S |
| 7. |
Turner International Asia Pacific Limited |
|
1989 |
6
(2) |
News, finance, movie, children & family programmes |
Asia-Pacific & South Asia |
AsiaSat 3S
Intelsat 8
Intelsat10 |
| 8. |
i-CABLE Satellite Television Limited |
|
12.2001 |
1
(1) |
Infotainment & documentaries |
Asia-Pacific region |
AsiaSat 3S |
| 9. |
Sun Television Cybernetworks Enterprise Limited |
|
8.2000 |
1
(0) |
History & culture-related documentaries |
Asia-Pacific region |
AsiaSat 3S |
| 10. |
GlobeCast Hong Kong Limited (formerly Pacific Century Matrix (HK) Limited) |
|
11.2001 |
15
(8) |
General entertainment, finance & news |
Asia-Pacific region |
AsiaSat 3S
MeaSat3 |
| 11. |
Skywave TV Company Limited |
|
1.2005 |
35
(23) |
General entertainment, news, movies, sports & documentaries |
Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China |
AsiaSat 4 |
| 12. |
Asia Television Limited |
|
To be confirmed
|
N.A. |
N.A. |
Mainland |
Apstar V |
| 13. |
Auspicious Colour Limited |
|
1.2006 |
5
(2) |
General entertainment & infotainment |
Asia Pacific region |
Intelsat 8
AsiaSat 2
AsiaSat 3S |
| 14. |
Phoenix Satellite Television Company Limited |
|
5.2006 |
3
(2) |
General entertainment, news and movies |
Mainland and Asian region |
AsiaSat 3S |
| 15. |
Times International Media Group Limited |
|
To be confirmed |
N.A. |
N.A. |
Asia-Pacific region |
Apstar VI |
| 16. |
Asia Times Online Limited |
|
1.1.2008 |
7
(7) |
News, finance and infotainment |
Southeast Asia |
NSS 6 |
In terms of business models, the majority of the non-domestic television programme service licensees produce their own television channels. With the creation of their own channel brands, revenue of these licensees is mainly derived from the sale of advertising time and licensing of their channels to other television operators in the region. Some other non-domestic television programme service licensees focus on providing uplinking facilities to other broadcasters. These licensees are usually subsidiaries of satellite facility operators.
The new non-domestic television programme service licensee, Asia Times Online Limited, operated seven unencrypted channels (six in Thai and one in English) providing news, finance and infotainment programmes targeting the Southeast Asian countries. Another new non-domestic television programme service licensee, Times International Media Group Limited, planned to launch one unencrypted Putonghua channel targeting the Asia-Pacific region.
footprint of Apstar IIR; 
footprint of AsiaSat 3S)