Deactivation of channels not due to politics – Huazong
KOTA KINABALU: Citing overwhelming request of Chinese viewers in the country, Huazong president Tan Sri T.C Goh has called on both Phoenix TV and Astro to negotiate to reach a ‘win-win' agreement towards reactivation of Phoenix Chinese channels.
Goh said he was made to understand that Astro's decision to deactivate the Phoenix Chinese Channel and Phoenix InfoNews Channel, effective this month, had nothing to do with politics, as claimed by some quarters. He thus urged all quarters to stop politicizing the matter, so as not to further complicate it.
Astro recently announced that it would be introducing two HD Chinese news channels – TVB News and TVBS News starting from July 6, 2020 at 6am. Both channels are available to subscribers on Chuen Min, Emperor and Gold Pack at no additional cost on TV and on Astro Go.
Goh said while he respects the decision of Astro as a pay-TV operator to deactivate the two Phoenix Chinese channels due to contractual issue, he nonetheless hoped Astro could take into consideration of the huge following of the two channels among the Chinese viewers, and to strive to restore them.
“A majority of the Chinese viewers are hoping that Astro could maintain the two Phoenix Chinese channels, so that they could have more choices of Chinese language channels,” he said.
In a statement issued yesterday, Goh acknowledged that since their introduction in Malaysia through Astro, the partially state-owned Phoenix Chinese channels had allowed Chinese viewers in the country access to reliable Chinese language news reports on world events, and had gained their trust and support.
Goh, who is also the president of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), reiterated that no one should politicize Astro's deactivation of the two Phoenix Chinese channels as it was purely a contractual issue.
He strongly believed that the position of Malaysian government has always been clear and firm that it supports and adheres to the one-China policy.
“Furthermore, the longestablished bilateral relations between Malaysia and China has grown from strength to strength over the years. There is no problem for us to bring in media organizations which are backed by China, including Phoenix TV. Hence, no one should play up this issue unnecessarily,” he said.
Goh added that due to the close blood ties between Chinese Malaysians and their ancestral homeland, China, and the close cooperation between Malaysia and China in trade, culture etc all these years, the trust of Chinese Malaysians on information on China catered by Phoenix TV channels is something which other Chinese news channels can't match up with.
He further noted that due to the incessant malicious, unfair and misleading reporting of the western media and their hostile attitude against China and the Chinese community throughout the world all these years, the global Chinese community has deemed the presence of Phoenix TV is even more crucial towards championing the legitimate cause and interest of Chinese community in the world, besides the common interest of the east and the west, in a just and professional manner.