City’s largest free-to-air channel TVB cites « purely commercial » reasons
Hong Kong’s largest broadcaster, TVB, announced it will not air next month’s Oscars ceremony, putting the Oscars at risk of not broadcasting in the region for the first time in over 50 years. Television Broadcasts Ltd., the city’s largest free-to-air network, said its decision to not renew the rights to the ceremony was a “purely commercial” reason, according to a statement given to local Chinese media (via Bloomberg). But the move comes amid reports that China’s Communist party told all local media outlets to downplay live coverage of the ceremony stemming from the nomination of the documentary short “Do Not Split,” which focuses on the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and past comments made by Chinese-born “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao.
