Eric Tsang believes in spending money to make money as TVB general manager

Eric Tsang promises to listen to all ideas that are presented to him, whether he pushes ahead or not. Photo: Samuel Ong/The Star

There’s no doubt that Hong Kong actor-comedian Eric Tsang knows what he’s doing as the general manager of TVB, Hong Kong's biggest broadcaster.

It’s said that under his guidance, the company’s productions of variety shows – which were on a decline previously – have shown improvements in ratings as well as revenue earnings from commercials.

The 68-year-old believes that cutting costs is not the way to earn money, but rather to invest more in order to produce good quality productions.

“Better programmes will generate more income. I came back to TVB to promote bolder creativity,” he told a Hong Kong news portal.

Another unconventional move by Tsang – especially in current times when letting go of staff is the norm – is to rehire them.

“We’ve lost a lot of talents these past few years. I’ve invited many of them back, especially the lower level staff and increased their salaries.

“My goal is to seek out more talent, and recruit younger artistes,” Tsang was reported saying.

“It may seem like I’m spending a lot of money, but that’s not the case.

“In the past six months, our revenue from commercials have increased by more than 30%. Once we started spending money, we eventually started generating more income.”

The news portal noted that Tsang is also promoting an open door policy to welcome higher creativity process among the TVB staff, whereby anyone can walk into his office to give ideas or share thoughts, whether or not he pushes ahead with them.

“I will share my experiences from all these years in the industry, which include many failed projects. I hope to educate them on what television production entails,” said Tsang, who has starred in Hong Kong films since the 1970s.

The article revealed that actors Matthew Ho, Dickson Yu and Arnold Kwok have all visited Tsang at his office. Two stars – Bob Lam and Luk Ho Ming – have even convinced Tsang with their ideas that both are said to be hosting new shows soon.