Now TV (Hong Kong)

• March 1998 Hong Kong Telecom commercially launched iTV
• July 2000 Liberalisation of the pay-TV market
• Last quarter of 2002 Termination of iTV
• August 2003 Now TV was unveiled
• September 2003 Now TV was officially launched

Since each household has to install a special decoder to view the channels, there is an extra deposit and installation for the decoder. However, these charges are waived for Netvigator broadband subscribers. With the decoder, households are able to watch approximately 20 free channels.

For the subscription channels, Now uses the pricing model of pay-per-channel basis. There are bundle offers in existence, for given bouquet of channels, but these are less comprehensive than those offered by rivals.

Now TV offers a business package (in which there are fewer channels for subscription than household customers) for businesses at a higher price than household subscribers.

Since 1 September 2007, Now TV no longer offers STAR Sports or ESPN as stand-alone packages, preferring instead to bundle them into a single multi-sport package. This has caused some distress amongst many viewers who view this move as a breach of their commitment contract's that stipulates that upon expiry of channel contracts, contracts are automatically renewed.

In the beginning, Now TV only operated 23 channels, most of which were in English. In response to competition, it has expanded its repertoire of new channels, adding programming such as the Disney Channel and ESPN. By June 2005, the number of channels grew to more than 70, with an increased number of Cantonese channels.

In 2006, Now TV outbid i-Cable for the rights to broadcast English Premier League football in Hong Kong, starting with the 2007–2008 season. It is also the broadcaster of LaLiga, the Spanish football competition

Now TV currently has the most channels of any pay TV provider in Hong Kong. At present, it offers 21 free channels and 103 pay channels, including 15 audio channels. The total number of channels exceeds 130.

The majority of its programming is in English, Cantonese or Putonghua, though some programming in Hindi (Star Bharat), and French (TV5MONDE), is available.

In early July 2000, the HKSAR government awarded five new pay-TV licences. The new entrants were all relatively seasoned broadcasting companies including Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, Hong Kong DTV Company, a British broadcaster Elmsdsale, Hong Kong Network TV and Pacific Digital Media HK. The opening of the market sparked intense competition for programming and viewer share.

To avoid direct competition with the two local digital terrestrial channels - Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and PCCW subsidiary ViuTV - Now TV sought to build up and secure its local pay-TV position by signing long-term contracts with a variety of channels from around the world.

• On November 15, 2006, Now TV made a knock-out bid, of an estimated HK$1.56 billion, to secure the license to exclusively broadcast football matches of the Barclays Premier League matches in Hong Kong for three seasons commencing from the 2007–2008 season.[1] Two years previously, i-Cable had paid an estimated HK$700 million for a three-year contract.[2]
• Now TV announced in January 2006 that a three-year deal was signed with ESPN STAR for the rights to live matches of the UEFA Champions League during the 2006–2009 seasons.[2]
• In December 2006 secured the exclusive rights to broadcast the Euro 2008 football championship by agreeing to pay HK$400 million.[3]
• Playboy TV will become exclusive to Now TV from December 1, 2006.

i-Cable has been forced to adopt an alternative pricing model for its subscribers. It allows subscribers to pick and choose their own channels, similar to the pay-by-channel of Now. Moreover, from Asia Media in October 2005, Now TV claimed that they will not follow i-Cable to minimize monthly charges since they have added new channels and improved the delivery standard, in order to maintain competitiveness. In December 2006, it announced it was instead planning on raising subscription rates after having secured exclusive rights in the ESPN, Premier League, and Euro 2008.[4]

Annie cheng and the crew of Sichuan Earthquake- One Year on at the 69th Annual Peabody Awards

At the 2004 Convention of CASBAA (Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia), Now TV was awarded "The Chairman's Award". CASBAA, representing 120 corporations serving more than 3 billion viewers, acknowledged Now TV for its "innovative and proactive marketing of a secure and advanced pay-TV platform and for growing its interactive capability, resulting in a stellar subscriber take-up" on 31 October 2004.