Oman State Broadcasting (former Public Authority for Radio and Television/PART)

Oman’s state broadcasting system comprises Oman TV and Radio Oman, now operated under the Ministry of Information of the Sultanate of Oman. The Public Authority for Radio and Television (PART) was established by Royal Decree No. 108/2010 of 19 October 2010 and amended by Royal Decree No. 100/2011 of 22 October 2011 as a legal entity with financial and administrative independence affiliated to the Council of Ministers. However, PART no longer exists as an active legal authority: Royal Decree No. 95/2020 of 18 August 2020 transferred its allocations, assets, rights, obligations and employees to the Ministry of Information and abolished the Authority.

Oman TV, the national television broadcaster. Oman TV began broadcasting from Muscat on 17 November 1974, with broadcasting from Salalah added on 25 November 1975. The state television portfolio includes the flagship generalist Oman TV channel and specialised services including sports, cultural and live-event channels.

Radio Oman, tracing its origins to the early years of the Omani state-building period after 1970. The state radio portfolio includes Arabic-language general programming, youth-oriented programming, the Holy Quran service, English-language output and classical or cultural music programming

Media assets

Television: Oman TV

Radio: Radio Oman

Ownership and governance

Oman TV and Radio Oman are now operated within the Ministry of Information’s broadcasting structure. PART was created in 2010 and amended in 2011, but it was abolished by Royal Decree No. 95/2020, which transferred its allocations, assets, rights, obligations and employees to the Ministry of Information. For the 2026 SMM cycle, it is therefore inaccurate to describe PART as a continuing Council of Ministers-supervised authority or to describe Dr Abdullah Al-Harrasi as Chairman of PART. The relevant current governance structure is Ministry control over state broadcasting.

Dr Abdullah Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Harrasi has served as Minister of Information since the August 2020 restructuring and continued in that role under Royal Decree No. 17/2026 of 12 January 2026, which reconstituted the Council of Ministers. The Ministry’s current public structure also identifies Mohammed bin Said Al-Balushi as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, appointed by Royal Decree No. 19/2022. This places Oman TV and Radio Oman within a direct ministerial chain of command rather than within an independent public-service broadcasting corporation.

The wider cycle context for state broadcasting governance was shaped by Royal Decree No. 17/2026, issued by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on 12 January 2026 and published in Official Gazette 1630a on 13 January 2026. The decree reconstituted the Council of Ministers, including the appointment of HH Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham bin Tariq Al Said as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and HH Sayyid Balarb bin Haitham bin Tariq Al Said as Minister of State and Governor of Muscat, while retaining Al-Harrasi as Minister of Information. No structural restructuring introducing editorial independence or arm’s-length governance for state broadcasting was identified during the 2025/26 SMM review.

Source of funding and budget

Oman TV and Radio Oman are financed through public funding within the Ministry of Information framework. According to SMM-retained expert sources and local journalists consulted during prior cycles, the state broadcaster has no significant independent commercial or advertising revenue stream and relies on public budget support for operational continuity.

The 2025/26 cycle produced no structural funding reform for Oman’s state broadcasting system. Oman TV and Radio Oman continued to operate as state-financed broadcasters within the Ministry of Information, with no transition toward commercial diversification, audited public disclosure or alternative revenue streams identified during the SMM review.

Editorial independence

Oman TV and Radio Oman are subject to strict state editorial control, with their location inside the Ministry of Information ensuring that ministerial direction extends across content production, staffing and day-to-day operations. According to SMM-retained expert sources and local and international media analysts consulted during prior cycles, criticism of the Sultan, the royal family, the government and state policies is strictly restricted across state-run outlets, and content is curated to reflect official narratives with limited space for investigative journalism or dissenting perspectives.

The RSF Oman 2026 country assessment similarly characterises self-censorship as the rule in Oman, noting that criticism of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and his predecessor Sultan Qaboos bin Said is unacceptable and that independent media are targeted whenever they engage with sensitive matters such as corruption. RSF also notes that Omani journalism is marked by overwhelmingly positive coverage, with reporters largely relying on information provided by governmental and private institutions.

The 2025/26 cycle did not produce any structural editorial reform for Oman TV or Radio Oman. Oman’s new Media Law, issued by Royal Decree No. 58/2024, and its 2025 executive regulation consolidated Ministry authority over licensing and media activity, but no statutory editorial-independence guarantee for state broadcasting was identified during the SMM review. No internal editorial charter, independent regulatory body or external oversight mechanism monitoring Oman TV and Radio Oman’s compliance with journalistic standards was identified during the cycle.

AI and digital policy

Oman TV and Radio Oman have not published a public-facing institutional AI governance policy. The main digital and technical modernisation reference points for state broadcasting are the Madinat Al Ilam digital studio complex inaugurated in December 2015, subsequent extensions to mobile distribution, YouTube and SoundCloud channels, and the Ministry-supervised Ayn digital audiovisual platform. No cycle-window AI-tool deployment or generative-AI editorial integration was identified in the state broadcasting system during the SMM 2025/26 review, and no public framework governing the use of generative AI or AI-enabled systems in editorial decision-making, verification, newsroom production, archiving, distribution or audience-facing content has been published.

Classification rationale

Oman’s state broadcasting system remains classified as State-Controlled (SC) for the 2026 cycle. Oman TV and Radio Oman operate within the Ministry of Information rather than through an arm’s-length public-service broadcasting corporation, the former Public Authority for Radio and Television (established in 2010 and amended in 2011) having been abolished in August 2020 with its allocations, assets, rights, obligations and employees transferred to the Ministry of Information, and there is no independent board overseeing Oman TV and Radio Oman, no statutory editorial-independence guarantee for state broadcasting, and no internal editorial charter or external oversight mechanism shielding output from government direction; the continued tenure of Dr Abdullah Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Harrasi as Minister of Information under Royal Decree No. 17/2026 reinforced continuity in the Ministry-led governance architecture established in 2020. The broadcasters are financed by the state through the Ministry of Information framework, with no significant independent commercial revenue identified, no standalone state-broadcasting allocation for the 2025/26 fiscal year identified in publicly disclosed budget documentation, and no audited public financial disclosure available for Oman TV or Radio Oman-specific operations. The 2025/26 cycle produced no governance, funding or editorial reform sufficient to move Oman’s state broadcasting system out of the SC category: Oman TV and Radio Oman continued to function as the central state broadcasting outlets of the Sultanate during a cycle marked by the reconstitution of the Council of Ministers under Royal Decree No. 17/2026, ongoing Vision 2040 governance reforms, the implementation of Oman’s new Media Law framework under Royal Decree No. 58/2024, and the absence of structural editorial-independence safeguards reflected in RSF’s weak 2026 legal-indicator score for Oman.

June 2026