COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
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In educational programmes, language learning continued to be the dominant theme. Following the popular format of Everyday English in which English was taught through songs and situation comedies, a similar series teaching Putonghua was also produced and broadcast at prime-time. In addition, in order to provide a variety of educational programmes to meet the diversified interest and requirements of the general public, special programmes like Doctor And You, Money Programme, Law Programme and Gemology were devised. Through these programmes, medical knowledge, investment strategies, legal knowledge and knowledge of gems were taught in an easy-to-understand manner.
General educational programmes like Civic Education, Film and Cultural Magazine and Sex Education were also produced to cultivate civic, cultural and social awareness among the general public.
RTHK's Educational Television Division and the Education Department continued with the production of curriculum-based and special educational programmes for schools. The government's Educational Television Service, which utilises the transmission facilities of the commercial television stations for eight hours every weekday during school term time, was watched by over 610 000 schoolchildren of Primary 3 to Secondary 3 levels. The programmes, all of which were produced by RTHK, were devised and written by Education Department staff who provided schools with programme literature and follow- up work.
Cable and Satellite Television
Hong Kong Cable Communications Limited, the consortium that won the bid in 1989 to establish the first cable television system in Hong Kong, decided to withdraw from the project in November 1990 through a mutual resolution agreement with the government. The government is now reconsidering the way forward for developing cable television in Hong Kong. In addition, the government is drawing up a regulatory framework for licensing satellite television.
Sound Broadcasting
Twelve radio channels are broadcasting in Hong Kong - seven operated by RTHK, three by the Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company (Commercial Radio), and two by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS).
Radio Data Services (RDS) were being added to the existing FM transmissions in late 1990, the first in Asia, to facilitate tuning and station identification in the heavily occupied FM bands. AM stereo was also introduced on two of RTHK's AM channels to enhance quality and audibility of these services.
During the year the government agreed to award a licence to a new sound broadcaster, with permission to broadcast three new channels in Chinese and English. The new broad- caster is expected to commence transmissions in 1991.
Radio Television Hong Kong (Radio)
RTHK, a publicly-funded station, is charged with providing balanced and objective broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the people of Hong Kong. Its news and public affairs programmes aim to provide fast, accurate and in-depth news reports to keep listeners abreast of important news and events. The Director of Broadcasting is RTHK's editor-in-chief.