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Jonathan White

At a little after 1pm last Sunday, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder touched gloves ahead of the biggest fight in heavyweight boxing in two decades.
Hong Kong’s fight fans were watching, with bars in Wan Chai busier than they have been in months despite the coronavirus battle gripping the city.
Those who stayed away were watching from the sofa but they were not watching on Hong Kong’s television channels.
None of them picked up the rights for the fight, forcing fight fans to the pub or to illegal streams to see the bout that the world was watching.

The closest you could get to seeing either Fury or Wilder on the 40 sports channels on Now TV was a replay of one of the “Bronze Bomber’s” old fights on KNOCKOUTS! on Fight TV.
This is not an unusual story in Hong Kong where sports fans have to pay through the nose for cable or Now TV, and then for a major event such as the Fifa World Cup, Rugby World Cup or Euro 2020 pay even more on top for another package.
It’s good money after bad. If you want to watch Kitchee in the Hong Kong Premier League that’s another HK$50 per game for the club live-stream.
Even if you pay for all the channels, packages and streams, fans are often short changed. Every time there is a major sporting event there follows the inevitable search for where, if anywhere, it will be shown.
Take the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin. Here is an event where Hong Kong has an Olympic medallist – Sarah Lee Wai-sze won bronze in London in 2012 – and a dual world champion.
Viu TV will show some Euro 2020 matches for free
It is also the final chance for Hong Kong’s cyclists to book a place at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. That’s something to shout about.
But looking at the list of broadcasters on the UCI there is no sign of Hong Kong. It turns out it is on TVB via its MyTV SUPER over-the-top service.
They did not advertise the broadcast until Tuesday. It started on Wednesday. And because the cycling is broadcast in Hong Kong, the UCI’s global live-stream on its YouTube channel is geoblocked. If you want to use that to keep track, you’ll also need to pay for a VPN.

There is uncertainty over whether Hongkongers will get to see Lee and her fellow athletes at Tokyo 2020 this summer.
No one has yet secured the rights to show the Olympics in Hong Kong. In November, TVB dismissed reports it had pulled the plug on a bid as “speculative”, but there has been no movement either.
It was reported that we may have already seen the last Olympics in the city as no broadcasters can afford the US$70 million for the Tokyo and Paris Games; in contrast, TVB paid just US$15 million for the Rio Games.
Hong Kong faces ‘scary’ US$70 million cost to broadcast Olympics
That number was not plucked out of thin air but is believed to be what CCTV paid to show it in the mainland. It’s a bit different when your maximum TV audience is seven million, rather than 200 times that, and no local broadcasters can justify the outlay with no hope of getting it back.
Unless the government, as has been argued for events involving Hong Kong, or someone like LeSports come in with the money, then we will likely miss out.
LeSports presents another interesting aspect to how this all got out of hand. They stumped up a staggering US$400 million for the 2016-19 English Premier League rights, meaning Hong Kong paid the most in Asia per season – HK$1 billion a year.
Needless to say LeSports went under and local broadcasters picked up the pieces for the Premier League and Russia 2018 (for which they paid US$70 million).
That and i-Cable’s controversial bid for the London 2012 Olympics, which had previously been shown on free-to-air TV, changed the game and there’s no going back.
When it comes to Tokyo 2020 or indeed the 2022 Fifa World Cup, which is expected to cost even more than in 2018, we may be saved at the last minute. We have been before.
Relief all round as TVB confirms it will air coverage of the Winter Games
That was the case with the Winter Olympics (a deal was signed a week before the opening ceremony) and the Asian Games in 2018, when i-Cable stepped in at the death amid rumours of a drop in price from US$6 million to US$2 million.
For the 2018-19 Uefa Champions League, rights were only secured days before the group stage kicked off. At least that ended up on the TV. Sometimes fans need to think outside the box.
Take Kitchee’s AFC Cup play-off last year, where they went out on penalties against Malaysia’s Perak. The only available feed was a fan in the stands using Facebook Live on their phone.
What they lacked in professional camera skills, they made up for with their ingenuity. That might be a farce but unless something changes it is also our future.
Let us all hope someone has a phone and a full battery in Tokyo.


Meet Emma McKeon: Cody Simpson’s girlfriend is a superstar swimmer and Australia’s most decorated Olympian who worked hard to win her medals – and she can thank her career for her relationship too

Hong Kong museum to showcase Olympic medals from local, mainland Chinese athletes

Chinese Olympians show fun side while offering Hongkongers words of advice on never giving up

East Asia’s Olympics results are a testament to a changing world

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Hong Kong broadcast rights for Tokyo 2020 and 2022 World Cup up in the air

Spain fans watch the Russia 2018 World Cup match between Spain and Iran in a bar in Madrid. Photo: AP

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 27: Fireworks ignite over the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 27, 2012 at Olympic Park in London, England. Jamie Squire/Getty Images/AFP== FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

NOW TV World Cup

Viu TV will show some Euro 2020 matches for free after Now TV secures live broadcasts rights for Hong Kong

Wembley will host the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final – which means a few late nights or early mornings for Hong Kong football fans. Photo: Reuters

Fans outside McSorley's on Staunton Street in Central watching the World Cup match between France and Australia. 16JUN18 SCMP/Nicolas Atkin

Soccer fans watching kick off match of FIFA World Cup at Olympian City in Hong Kong on Thursday night. FIFA World Cup kicks off on night of 14 June, 2018. 14JUN18. Handout

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: the ‘scary’ cost facing Hong Kong for broadcasting next two Games

Épée fencer Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan carries the flag for Hong Kong’s delegation at the opening ceremony of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Photo: Xinhua

The Olympic rings stand on the beach next to art installations before sunrise prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The Gangneung coastal cluster is hosting the ice sports, including figure skating, speed skating and hockey. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

epa07194209 Thomas Bach (C), President of International Olympic Committee (IOC), poses with Yoshiro Mori (L), President of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee, and other staff of the committee for a group photo in Tokyo, Japan, 28 November 2018. The Opening ceromony is scheduled for the evening of Friday 24 July 2020. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Tokyo 2020 Olympic mascot "Miraitowa" and Paralympic mascot "Someity" walk on the pier after their water parade with town's landmark "Rainbow Bridge" as back ground in Tokyo Sunday, July 22, 2018. The official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled at a ceremony on Sunday. The two mascot designs were selected by elementary schoolchildren across Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Uefa Champions League on i-Cable, Now TV in ‘healthy’ Hong Kong broadcast rights shake-up

Sergio Ramos lifts the trophy after Real Madrid’s Champions League final win against Liverpool in Kiev. Photo: Xinhua

(180527) -- KIEV, May 27, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Gareth Bale of Real Madrid celebrates scoring during the UEFA Champions League final match between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine on May 26, 2018. Real Madrid claimed the title with 3-1. (Xinhua/Wuzhuang)

epa06765813 Liverpool's goalkeeper Loris Karius concedes Real Madrid's 3-1 lead during the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool FC at the NSC Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, 26 May 2018. EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT

Relief all round as TVB confirms Hongkongers will get to watch the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang

Athletes in action during a training session at the speed skating venue in Gangneung, South Korea. Hong Kong viewers will get the opportunity to watch the Winter Games on TV. Photo: EPA

Exterior of TVB City in Tseung Kwan O. 25MAY16 SCMP/K. Y. Cheng

Sport

Hong Kong

Football


Costs to show sporting events proving too high as they are often priced the same as for China
Hongkongers have to pay for more channels with no guarantee of seeing events



Hong Kong broadcast rights for Tokyo 2020 and 2022 World Cup up in the air as costs often priced the same as for China.


Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Sarah Lee Wai-sze

Fifa World Cup 2014

Fifa Women's World Cup

Fifa World Cup 2022

Fifa World Cup 2018

CCTV

Television Broadcasts (TVB)

Boxing

Hong Kong China Rugby

Kitchee SC

Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

English Premier League

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Faster, Higher, Stronger

Faster, Higher, Stronger | Hong Kong broadcast rights for Tokyo 2020 and 2022 World Cup up in the air

Costs to show sporting events proving too high as they are often priced the same as for China Hongkongers have to pay for more channels with no guarantee of seeing events

Costs to show sporting events proving too high as they are often priced the same as for China

Hongkongers have to pay for more channels with no guarantee of seeing events