Stepping into the 1970s, Shaw studios began to contract in scale. Its once privileged streamline production pattern was beaten by the trend of outsourcing and commissioned production set by Golden Harvest Limited. As location filming increasingly became the trend, the attraction of studio filming was weakened considerably. In addition, from 1967, after the first free TV channel started broadcasting in Hong Kong, the growth in the number of movie-goers became stagnant. Hence, by the late-1970s, the development of the big studio system seemed to have become a heavy burden on Shaw. Subsequently, in order to control costs, Shaw not only reduced its production volume but also lease parts of the studio facilities to TVB for filming dramas. Finally in 1986, Shaw announced its sale of parts of the studios in Clearwater Bay to TVB. The streamline production pattern of the big studio system was thereby formally disintegrated. Though in the 1990s, Shaw’s still invested in the making of individual films, its production volume just couldn’t be compared with that in the past. The glorious era of the big studio system in Hong Kong would no longer be seen.