[Ming Pao]

The power of Typhoon Dujuan was very great last week, not only did it lead to the typhoon 9 signal in Hong Kong, it also created some great ratings figures for both TVB and ATV last Tuesday. TVB's ratings peaked at 36 points for the 6:30 news and ATV gained a massive 28 points for its coverage of the news at 6pm.

TVB's airing of "Princess Pearl 3" gained an average of 23 points, but a disappointing low of just 18 points meant that it was quickly moved to the earlier 6pm position and shortened to 30 minutes. However, thanks to Dujuan last week, it managed to average 33 points on Tuesday peaking at 36 points helping its average for the week to climb three points to 26. The creator of "Princess Pearl" Qingyao has not been happy with TVB's rescheduling decision and after the ratings were revealed yesterday it was immediately suggested that TVB had made their decision too early and not given the show a chance. She had even considered buying back the rights to the last ten episodes, but TVB has refused and apologised to her for the changes.

TVB's other shows "Virtues of Harmony" and "Not Just A Pretty Face" both rose by two points averaging at 30 points for the week.

As for ATV, their imported show starring Vincent Zhao and Esther Kwan "The Legend of the Book and Sword" was down 4 points compared to last weeks "Legend of the Condor Heroes" averaging at just 7 points, losing nearly 260,000 viewers. As for "A Million Lights of Hope" it rose by one point, averaging at 11 points. "Laughing Eight Immortals" averaged at 9 points, rising by 1 point.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030908/12/u2tz.html