Chapter 16
The Media, Communications and Information Technology
Hong Kong's lively media and world-class telecommunications provide ready access to a wealth of information and entertainment. Some 740 daily newspapers and periodicals are published in Hong Kong, more than 83 per cent of households are broadband service subscribers and the mobile subscriber penetration rate is over 229 per cent.
Hong Kong has one of the most successful telecommunications markets in the world. Fully liberalised and highly competitive, the market provides a wide range of innovative and advanced telecommunications services to consumers and business users at affordable prices. The city also has a long history of film production and a vibrant broadcasting industry offering a great variety of services.
The Mass Media
Hong Kong's mass media at the end of 2015 included 53 daily newspapers (including a number of electronic newspapers), 683 periodicals, three domestic free-television programme service licensees, three domestic pay-television programme service licensees, 18 non-domestic television programme service licensees, one government-funded public service broadcaster and three sound broadcasting licensees.
The availability of the latest telecommunications technology and keen interest in Hong Kong's affairs have attracted many international news agencies, newspapers with international readership and international broadcasters to establish regional headquarters or representative offices here. The production of regional publications in Hong Kong underlines its importance as a financial, industrial, trading and communications centre.
Registered Hong Kong-based press at the year end included 26 Chinese-language dailies, 12 English-language dailies, 10 bilingual dailies and five in Japanese. One of the English dailies publishes a daily Braille edition in conjunction with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 20 mainly cover local and international news, four specialise in finance and the rest focus on horse racing. The larger newspapers include overseas Chinese communities in their distribution networks and some have editions printed outside Hong Kong, in particular in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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