TVB News World - Asian Entertainment News Daily

Upon returning to the company last year, TVB’s Director of Production [Variety shows / Non-drama department] Sandy Yu (余詠珊)’s first order of business was to implement extensive changes and completely revamp TVB’s variety show department. The result of her first ‘major’ project is already coming to light, as demonstrated by the recent ‘buzz’ over this year’s Miss HK pageant utilizing a ‘reality show-type’ format to eliminate contestants from first and second round tryouts.

The next ‘major project’ is TVB’s version of Japan’s popular long-running singing competition Red vs White Singing Battle (紅白歌唱大賽), which will be held on July 7th. Towards this special music program, Sandy Yu expressed: “I really want to do something good for the HK entertainment industry – if the effort isn’t put in now, the music industry will slowly be swallowed up!” (Will artists under the Universal label participate in the program?) “Most likely the chances are very slim….” Sandy emphasized that she does not want to cause controversy or create any conflict between parties, however she honestly does not understand Universal’s mentality toward the situation: “We are already putting forth our utmost sincerity, however the other party [Universal] seems to have the attitude that they don’t even want to be friends anymore. It’s very hard for us to understand and very regrettable!”

Most recently, the ‘newest’ conflict between TVB and Universal is not due to disagreement over singers’ contracts as it has been in the past – rather, the conflict this time around has to do with one single piece of paper [referred to going forward as ‘the form’].

July is not TVB’s anniversary month nor is is awards season, so why would Sandy Yu choose to arrange for such a high profile music singing competition at this time? She explains: “One of the main reasons why I decided to quit my previous job [working for Jimmy Lai’s Next Television in Taiwan] and return to TVB was because I really wanted to turn the music industry around. These past few years, I haven’t been in HK, so I’m not too clear on all the things that happened between TVB and the record companies – all I know is that if everyone’s intention is for the good of the music industry, then why not forget the past and start from scratch? If that’s the case, then let’s show it by demonstrating that we are serious about it.” Sandy promises that the upcoming singing competition will be purely music-based and absolutely will not make artists do non-relevant things such as jumping up and down on trampolines or running on treadmills: “We will spare no effort in making this a truly grand, memorable show so that every July 7th going forward, everyone will look forward to ‘Red vs White’ returning again!”

In recent years, the royalty dispute between the Big 5 record companies and TVB caused a lot of singers to ‘disappear’ from TVB, resulting in the station’s music programs suffering ‘drastically low’ ratings. As soon as Sandy Yu came into the picture, she immediately took the ‘sincerity’ route in the hopes of turning things around: “No matter who wants to establish a relationship with TVB, we will support them. I will use all my effort to promote the younger singers; the ‘promoting’ is not just about having them do one or two shows or giving them one or two awards -- rather, it will be similar to what was done with the 5 Tigers in the past – creating ‘groups’ if need be and if the right opportunity comes along, arranging for them to take those opportunities. This allows audiences to slowly get to know them, become familiar with them, and in the process, give them a chance to slowly improve.” Sandy expressed that it’s very difficult to name exactly who will be promoted in this manner, but based on the description above, our [Mingpao] reporter couldn’t help but think of one person in particular: Raymond Lam (林峯).

In the past, TVB was constantly criticized for trying to be a ‘dictatorship’ by using strict contracts to tie singers down. Towards this, Sandy feels that the problem is more a matter of ‘trust’ than what is actually listed in the contracts: “Since the public seems to have such a huge misunderstanding about TVB, we decided it was better to simplify the criteria [in the contracts] even further so that hopefully we can all collaborate again.” The new ‘simplified’ criteria states that artists only need to notify TVB 7 days in advance if they want to appear on other HK television stations or not have to speak Mandarin when being interviewed by other stations, etc.: “Technically, you can’t even really call it a ‘contract’ – at most, it is merely a ‘collaboration memo’ (合作備忘錄) – plus it is not legally binding at all! If during discussions, you feel that what I [Sandy] say doesn’t materialize, you have the right to walk away anytime!”

The right to issue ‘restraining order’

After painstaking effort, artists such as G.E.M. (鄧紫棋), Fama (農夫), etc. have already signed with TVB again one after the other and [Universal] artist Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) also appeared on TVB’s new game show hosted by Grasshoppers. Just when it appears to the world that TVB and Universal were slowly ‘breaking the ice’, Sandy lets out a huge sigh and reveals that things are not as they seem: “Aiye! I don’t mean to cause trouble or controversy, it’s just that the current situation is very perplexing and disheartening for me – I really don’t understand what Universal wants!” Apparently, the ‘conflict’ has gone beyond merely disagreeing over signing singers’ contracts: “Towards ‘superstars’ such as Kelly Chen, Alan Tam (譚詠麟), Paula Tsui (徐小鳳), etc., TVB would never require that these singers sign a contract in order to appear on a program or participate in a game show – the ‘rules’ are even more relaxed for them, however based on traditional practice, all we ask is that the record companies sign a simple ‘form’ stating that all rights related to the program that these artists appear on belong solely to TVB and that we are allowed to air the program on our network as well as ‘sell’ it overseas. However Universal keeps going back and forth, refusing to sign the ‘form’ no matter what. If they don’t sign the ‘form’, then that means if TVB attempts to air any of the footage with Universal artists in it [Kelly for example], we would be ‘breaking the law’ and the other party [record company] would have the right to issue a ‘restraining order’ against us!” Despite the ‘issue’ between Universal and TVB, in the end, Kelly Chen will still be able to appear on TVB. [TN: It’s not in this article, but in a different article, Universal spokesperson responded saying that Kelly Chen and Alan Tam only have recording contracts with Universal, not artist management contracts – therefore, as long as the management company is willing to sign TVB’s ‘form’ on the artists’ behalf and the artists do not perform any songs under copyright to Universal, then the artist can still appear on TVB…in other words, they would be bypassing the record company.]

Have there been situations where an artist does not need to sign the ‘form’ but can still appear on TVB? Sandy expressed: “Yes, for example, artists such as Madonna or Lady Gaga who have international stature and are well-known all over the world – plus they are not based in HK. In fact, with these ‘international’ artists, there are generally concerns over how the TV stations will utilize their image or performances, so not only will they not have to sign any type of ‘form’ with us, we actually have to sign a multi-page complicated contract with them to ensure that their image and likeness will be protected under the law – I can surely understand this! However with Universal’s artists, it’s different because their roots are based here in HK, yet it seems that their company doesn’t want their artists to appear on a big TV station – I don’t understand why is that? No matter how much I try to think through it, I don’t understand it!” How about ‘big name’ artists such as Hacken Lee (李克勤) for example who’ve always had good relationships with TVB – if they don’t go through their record companies and instead approach TVB directly on their own, is that okay? Sandy shakes her head and states: “We don’t want to make things difficult for the artists themselves, especially if they are managed by the record companies. We hope to avoid putting artists in a tough spot in between TVB and the record companies they belong to!”

Even though both sides [TVB and Universal] continue to be in a ‘stalemate’ position, it looks like there might be an ‘exception’ made in the near future: many of Universal’s artists such as Jacky Cheung (張學友), Hacken Lee, Kelly Chen, etc. have already accepted the HK government’s invitation to appear on this year’s gala celebration commemorating HK’s return to China, which will take place on June 30th. Since TVB will be airing the show, this means that the artists will also ‘appear’ on TVB audience’s screens once again. Towards this, Sandy expressed: “Our attitude is that we can make friends with everyone and hope that this attitude can be reciprocated in efforts to restore the splendor that once defined the industry.”

Our reporter attempted to contact Universal’s vice-chairman Duncan Wong (黃劍濤), however a response was not yet received as of the date of this publishing.

Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2274
Translated by: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics