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Media and Communications

English and Putonghua every week, including 16 hours of radio programmes under the Community Involvement Broadcasting Service.

RTHK produces TV programmes of public interest for broadcast on free and pay-TV channels. It also operates three digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels, two of which are carried on the analogue platform as well. In 2017, RTHK produced 1,403 hours of programmes for broadcasting on its TV channels as well as free and pay-TV platforms. By end-2017, 19 transmitting stations, comprising main and fill-in stations, were taking the DTT network coverage to about 90 per cent of the population. RTHK will continue to establish the remaining 10 fill-in stations to extend its network coverage to about 99 per cent of the population, matching that of commercial DTT broadcasters.

To complement the government's education policies, RTHK produces 19.9 hours of new educational TV programmes for pre-primary, primary and secondary schools and operates an interactive learning platform, eTVonline. It also provides filming and technical support as well as audio and video signals to local and overseas broadcasters to air events of public interest, such as the National Day celebration and flag-raising ceremony, Chief Executive's Policy Address and ceremonial opening of the legal year.

RTHK harnesses the multimedia potential of emerging media platforms, including providing applications for smart TV as well as mobile services RTHK Mine, RTHK News, RTHK On the Go and RTHK Screen, to meet the diverse needs of the public. Average daily page views of 3.2 million were recorded in 2017. RTHK also provided Nepalese and Urdu subtitles in some TV programmes to cater for ethnic minorities.

Recent Developments

The government encourages the use of DTT broadcasting technology to enhance spectrum efficiency and enable the provision of quality TV services. About 88 per cent of households. receive digital television. Among the three commercial broadcasters, two make use of the broadcasting spectrum to provide digital coverage of at least 99 per cent of the population; one provides analogue and digital services through a fixed network that covers about 93 per cent of households. The government plans to complete in 2017-18 a review of the target date, set in end-2020, of switching off analogue TV services.

A review of the broadcasting-related ordinances is also under way, with the aim of relaxing some obsolete statutory requirements and rationalising the regulatory regime so as to provide a balanced competitive environment and allow more room for innovation and investment to support the sustainable development of free-TV services.

Postal Services

Hongkong Post provides a broad range of reliable postal and related services at affordable prices. In 2017, it handled 1.17 billion postal items, of which 82.3 per cent was local mail.

In response to the growth in e-commerce, Hongkong Post continues to introduce new delivery solutions. During the year, the number of iPostal stations citywide was increased to 16. This is a

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