354 | Communications, the Media and Information Technology
Radio Television Hong Kong
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), a government department, is an editorially independent public broadcaster which provides quality radio and television programmes for Hong Kong citizens.
RTHK currently operates seven radio channels and produces over 970 hours of radio programmes weekly of different genres in Cantonese, English and Putonghua. In 2007, considerable efforts were made to arouse public awareness of healthy living, environmental protection and a harmonious community.
RTHK produced about 570 hours of television programmes in 2007 for broadcasting on Hong Kong's two commercial television stations. In addition to school educational television programmes and pre-primary school programmes, an interactive learning platform, the eTVonline, has also been launched to complement the Government's education policies. As the territory's publicly-funded broadcaster, RTHK also provides local and overseas broadcasters with audio and video pool feed signals of events that are of public interests. The year 2007 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR. RTHK rendered full technical support in the production and broadcast of various celebratory functions, such as the flag-raising ceremony, the inauguration of the Third Term Government of the HKSAR, the opening ceremony for the Shenzhen Bay Port, and other events.
RTHK has embraced the new media era and started broadcasting online since 1994 by launching 'RTHK on INTERNET' (www.rthk.org.hk). The daily average hit rate of the website is 29 million. RTHK continues to harness the multi-media potential of the different emerging media platforms, such as licensing web content to mobile operators and providing podcasting services. Since August 2007, RTHK has set up an official channel on YouTube (www.youtube.com/rthk) to reach out more to the young audience.
Recent Developments
The boundaries between broadcasting, telecommunications and information technology continue to blur. The present arrangement of separate statutory regulators for broadcasting and telecommunications services is not sustainable in the long term. There was general support in public consultations to merge the BA and the Telecommunications Authority into a unified regulator responsible for overseeing the whole electronic communications sector. The Government is preparing for the introduction of legislation to pave the way for the merger's implementation.
The Government encourages the deployment of digital terrestrial television broadcasting technology in Hong Kong to enhance spectrum efficiency and enable the provision of new services such as high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting. The two incumbent terrestrial broadcasters, Asia Television Limited (ATV) and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) officially launched digital terrestrial television, including broadcasting free HDTV programmes and channels, on December 31, 2007. They are committed to extending digital coverage to 75 per cent by August 2008 so that more Hong Kong people can receive digital broadcasts of Beijing 2008 Olympics.