Forever Top (Asia) Limited (Chinese: 永升（亞洲）有限公司) is a company based in Hong Kong founded by David Chiu, the current head of Far East Consortium. The company initially applied for a free-to-air television broadcast licence under the name of New Asia Network (NAN; Chinese: 新亞電視台), but it later withdrew the application, and acquired I-Cable Communications instead.
Background
David Chiu is a son of Deacon Chiu Te-ken, the founder of Far East Consortium. Deacon Chiu bought the Rediffusion Television (RTV) in 1982 and renamed it Asia Television (ATV) before he sold the broadcaster in 1989. Forever Top's free-to-air television bid New Asia Network was named in memory of ATV.
New Asia Network
In 2015, Forever Top applied for a free-to-air television broadcast licence under the name of New Asia Network. One of the company's goals was to acquire the assets of ATV, whose licence would be revoked after 1 April 2016.
| Channel name[1][2] | Channel content | Transmission | Picture format | Proposed launch date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Asia Network (新亞高清台) |
Chinese channel targeting a general audience[1] | Terrestrial[1] | HDTV[1] | Within 6 months after licence approval, if station manages to take over assets owned by Asia Television, or within 9 months after licence approval, by hiring another studio[1] |
| New Asia International (新亞國際台) |
English channel targeting the non-Chinese speaking audience[1] | SDTV[1] | ||
| New Asia Sports (新亞體育台) |
Sports channel, to be broadcast in Chinese[1] | Within another 3 months after New Asia Network and New Asia International's start of broadcasting[1] |
However, Forever Top later withdrew the application. In 2017, the company instead acquired I-Cable Communications, the parent company of Hong Kong Cable Television and Fantastic Television.
i-Cable Communications
References