Many firsts achieved in golden era

Founded by property giant Wharf 30 years ago, Cable TV had its golden times but the business was hit by a challenging environment in recent years.

The company obtained a subscription TV broadcasting license in 1993 and went on air with eight channels, including the world's first 24-hour Cantonese news channel.

It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1999 under i-Cable Communications.

i-Cable has acquired the rights to broadcast many important matches, especially football, since 1995 and achieved a seven-fold increase in annual net profit in 2001.

It won exclusive rights to air the live 2002 FIFA World Cup in Hong Kong, the first time a pay-TV company had won the broadcasting rights to the event. It was also the official broadcaster of the London 2012 Olympics.

Wharf decided to sell the pay-TV business to Forever Top (Asia) in 2017 amid huge financial losses in recent years due to a slump in revenue from subscriptions and advertising, along with increasing competition from Netflix-like streaming services.

In 2021, New World Development chairman Henry Cheng Kar-Chun raised his stake to take full control of i-Cable by acquiring shares of the TV company from Forever Top. The firm saw its net losses widen by 29 percent to HK$226 million for the six months ending June last year.