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The Media, Communications and Information Technology

International Activities

Hong Kong continues to be an active player in international telecommunications forums, participating as part of the Mainland's delegations to conferences and meetings organised by the International Telecommunication Union and as an independent member at meetings of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity and the Telecommunications and Information Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation.

Broadcasting

Hong Kong is a forerunner in the adoption of advanced broadcasting technologies. The government's broadcasting policy objectives are to widen programme choice and diversity through competition, to facilitate the introduction of innovative broadcasting services and to enhance the city's position as a regional broadcasting hub.

To achieve these objectives, Hong Kong adopts a facilitating and pro-competition approach to promote the use of innovative broadcasting technologies, and provides a liberalised and light- handed regulatory environment for new broadcasting services to flourish. This allows the city to enter into a new era of broadcasting, with widened programme choices and innovative services available to the viewing and listening public.

At the end of 2015, Hong Kong had some 800 satellite and pay-television channels available in digital format, and was the world leader in deploying Internet Protocol Television technology, with more than one million subscribers. Eighteen licensed satellite television broadcasters provided more than 200 channels for the Asia-Pacific region. The two incumbent terrestrial television broadcasters launched digital broadcasting officially in December 2007. By the end of 2015, there were 15 free-to-air television channels, comprising four analogue and 11 digital free- television channels, of which six were high-definition (HD) channels.

Public service broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong produces programmes of public interest for broadcast on free and pay-television channels. In January 2014, RTHK started a trial run of its three digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels, all in HD format. As to radio, as at the end of 2015, Hong Kong's four radio stations (three commercial operators and RTHK) provided a total of 13 analogue and 15 digital audio broadcasting channels.

Regulatory Approach

The provision of television programme services and the carriage networks are regulated separately. A television programme service provider may hire any transmission network operator to transmit its service instead of investing in transmission infrastructure itself. This arrangement facilitates market entry and encourages competition.

Under the Broadcasting Ordinance, the four categories of television programme services - domestic-free, domestic-pay, non-domestic (mainly satellite television services targeting the Asia-Pacific region) and other licensable television programme services (mainly television services for hotel rooms) - are regulated according to their characteristics and pervasiveness rather than their transmission modes. The provision of sound broadcasting services is regulated

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