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Hong Kong-based TVBI Company Limited (TVBI) is the worldwide operating arm of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), the world's largest producer and distributor of Chinese-language programmes. TVB, together with TVBI, are headquartered in Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in the 2.2 billion state-of-the-art TVB City, Asia's largest commercial television production and operations centre. There are two outdoor shooting locations and 22 production studios, of which Studio 1 is the largest studio amongst all commercial television stations in Asia, in TVB City. TVB employs 4,585 staff (both local and oversea) and artistes. TVB productions range from serial dramas and sitcoms to documentaries, news, musical specials, variety and talk shows and travelogues. Established in 1976, TVBI enjoys exclusive rights to distribute the more than 6,000 hours of programmes produced annually by TVB as well as titles from TVB's famed 80,000-hour programme library, many of which are dubbed into other Asian languages as well as English. TVBI's current scope of activities includes:
Overview of TVBI's Worldwide Activities TVBI supplies programmes to free-to-air broadcasters, cable and satellite service operators and licensed video distributors throughout North and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Apart from licensing programmes to video dealers, TVBI also operates its own video rental outlets in Malaysia and the U.K. Since April 1997, TVBI has been running a franchised video chain called `TVB Video' in Vancouver, Canada. TVBI's subsidiary Jade Animation is also a significant producer and distributor of animated programmes for the world's leading entertainment companies. In September 1993, TVBI launched its own satellite service, the TVB Super Channel (TVBS), in Taiwan in partnership with a major local multimedia entertainment group, serving Taiwan's dynamic cable television market with an innovative combination of infotainment and special interest programmes, news, drama and musical specials. TVBS has established itself soon after its launch as the most popular cable channel among viewers and advertisers in Taiwan, second only to Taiwan's four terrestrial stations. It has reached almost maximum penetration of Taiwan's over 5 million cable TV homes which represent over 78% of Taiwan's total television households. The TVBS service includes the TVBS general entertainment channel, the TVBS Golden Channel of drama and variety shows, and the 24-hour news channel TVBS Newsnet. On the strength of its phenomenal success in Taiwan, TVBS is expanding further into the region. The quality TVBS programming is also available to the audience in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia and North America. In the U.S., TVBI, under its subsidiary TVB (USA) Inc., owns and operates cable TV stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco which distribute its Chinese-language Jade Channel cable service in California. In December 1994, TVB (USA) Inc. commenced delivering the Jade Channel via satellite directly to Chinese-speaking audiences nationwide. In Canada, TVBI, through joint ventures, operates Fairchild TV, the only Chinese-language television service covering all of Canada. In Australia and New Zealand, TVBI launched the 24-hour Cantonese language Jade Satellite Channel in August 1998. In the U.K., TVBI's satellite-delivered Chinese-language service, TVBS-E, formerly known as the Chinese Channel, began transmission by the latest digital compression technology to the Chinese communities throughout the U.K. and Europe in April 1997. In China, TVBI licenses programming to leading free-to-air and cable television channel operators. TVBI also pioneered the barter of programmes for prime airtime in China, which it sells to local and international advertisers. In Thailand, the TVB 3 Network Company (TVB 3), TVBI's join venture with Bangkok Entertainment Company, has been producing Thai language variety programmes for distribution to local cable and terrestrial television stations. In Singapore, TVBI provides two cable services to the community, namely, Jade Satellite Channel (TVBJ) in Cantonese and TVBS Asia in Mandarin. To meet the increasing demand for quality Mandarin programmes from Chinese viewers worldwide, TVBI launched two 24-hour Mandarin language satellite channels, TVB 8 and TVB Xing He Channel, in 1998. In Indonesia, TVBI offers two mandarin channels, TVB 8 and TVB Xing He Channel, to the subscribers of Indovision. In addition, TVBI sells valuable commercial spots on TVB videos and telecast programmes to advertisers seeking to reach ethnic Asian television audiences worldwide. Apart from managing airtime for TVBS in Taiwan, TVBI also provides consultant service on programming and advertising sales to Wah Lai Toi and Asia Entertainment Channel in Malaysia. |
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