Chapter 17
Communications, the Media and Information Technology
Hong Kong's lively news media and world-class telecommunications provide ready access to a wealth of information and entertainment. Over 735 daily newspapers and periodicals are published in Hong Kong, more than 86 per cent of households are broadband service subscribers and the mobile subscriber penetration is over 228 per cent.
Hong Kong has one of the most successful telecommunications markets in the world. The market is fully liberalised and highly competitive, providing a wide range of innovative and advanced telecommunications services at reasonable prices to consumers and business users. It has a vibrant broadcasting industry offering a wide range of services to the community and is also one of the world's major film production centres, while through its Digital 21 Strategy, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau strives to establish Hong Kong as a leading digital economy.
The Mass Media
Hong Kong's mass media at the end of 2012 included 51 daily newspapers (including a number of electronic newspapers), 684 periodicals, two domestic free television programme service licensees, three domestic pay television programme service licensees, 17 non-domestic television programme service licensees, one government funded public service broadcaster and four 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 year-end included 25 Chinese-language dailies, 12 English-language dailies, nine 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, 19 cover mainly local and international news, three specialise in finance and the rest focus on horse racing. The larger newspapers include overseas Chinese
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