ENG-2016 — Page 337

Chapter 17

Media and

Communications

Hong Kong's lively media and world-class telecommunications provide ready access to a wealth of information and entertainment. Some 694 daily newspapers and periodicals are published in Hong Kong, more than 93 per cent of households are broadband service subscribers and the mobile subscriber

penetration rate is about 234 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 2016 included 54 daily newspapers (including electronic newspapers), 640 periodicals, three domestic free-television programme service licensees, three domestic pay-TV programme service licensees, 17 non-domestic TV programme service licensees, one government-funded public service broadcaster and two 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 28 Chinese-language dailies, 11 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, 22 cover mainly 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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