Independent Television Network (ITN)

The Independent Television Network Limited (ITN) is a state-owned Sri Lankan television and radio broadcaster operating services in Sinhala, Tamil and English. It has an unusual institutional history among the country’s public media: it began as a privately operated television station and was taken into state ownership less than two months after going on air.

ITN commenced operations on 13 April 1979 as Sri Lanka’s first television station. It was founded as a private enterprise by businessman Shan Wickremesinghe, with technical assistance from Japan’s NEC. The government took it over as a government-owned business undertaking through Gazette Extraordinary No. 39/4 of 5 June 1979. On 27 April 1992, it was converted into a state-owned public company under the Conversion of Public Corporations or Government-Owned Business Undertakings into Public Companies Act No. 23 of 1987.

Media assets

Television: ITN, broadcasting principally in Sinhala; and Vasantham TV, serving Tamil-speaking audiences

Radio: Lakhanda Radio and Lakhanda Classic in Sinhala; and Vasantham FM in Tamil

Ownership and governance

ITN is a public limited company wholly owned by the Sri Lankan state. All 9,500,000 issued shares are held by the Secretary to the Treasury on behalf of the government. The company falls within the state’s mass-media portfolio and is currently listed among the institutions administered by the Ministry of Mass Media. During part of the review period, responsibility for mass media was combined ministerially with the health portfolio.

This corporate form distinguishes ITN from the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, which is constituted under a dedicated broadcasting statute. ITN is governed primarily through company law, its corporate instruments and the state’s powers as sole shareholder. No ITN-specific founding statute was identified that establishes a public-service remit, guarantees editorial independence, prescribes political-balance requirements or protects governing members from removal by the state shareholder.

The board, including the chair, is constituted through government-controlled procedures. ITN’s official contact page lists a seven-member board comprising Priyantha Wedamulla as Chairman, together with D. N. Liyanage, G. W. M. U. Fonseka, B. G. Indika Gamage, M. Z. Saleem, J. K. A. Kelum and S. P. Delankawala. No publicly accessible procedure was identified that gives an independent professional body, civil society organisation or ITN’s staff a determining role in selecting these members or provides them with protected editorial tenure.

Priyantha Wedamulla was appointed chairman in September 2024 following the National People’s Power government’s presidential election victory. A senior lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, he has worked as a journalist, feature writer, programme producer and director. Parliament’s Committee on High Posts approved his appointment at its meeting of 6 August 2025. The committee stage introduces parliamentary scrutiny that does not apply in precisely the same form to the ministerial appointment of the SLRC chair, but it does not constitute an independent nomination process: the original appointment remains an executive decision.

The broadcaster has periodically been included in wider discussions about restructuring state media, but no merger involving ITN had been officially adopted by July 2026. The documented Cabinet merger process concerned the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. When Cabinet abandoned that proposal in June 2025, it separately approved priority provision in the 2026 budget for essential equipment needed to modernise ITN’s outdated production systems.

Source of funding and budget

ITN finances its ordinary operations principally through commercial activity, including airtime sales, programme production, sponsorship, digital income and content-related services. Government support has supplemented this income through capital contributions and grants but has not constituted more than half of the broadcaster’s verified annual resources.

The latest publicly available audited financial statements cover 2024. They report revenue of LKR 1.756 billion, other income of LKR 202.6 million, total income of LKR 1.959 billion, a profit for the year of LKR 24.8 million, and, after other comprehensive losses, a total comprehensive loss of LKR 13.1 million. For comparison, ITN recorded total income of LKR 1.682 billion in 2023 and a loss for the year of LKR 181.6 million. The Auditor General issued a qualified opinion on the 2024 financial statements.

The 2024 accounts record LKR 109.95 million received through government financing. The statement of changes in equity treats this amount as an addition to stated capital, while the cash-flow statement describes it as a government grant. The accounts also recognise LKR 21.19 million through amortisation of government grants previously associated with assets.

Even using the broader LKR 109.95 million figure as direct state support for the year, it represents approximately 5.6% of ITN’s total recorded income. The LKR 21.19 million recognised directly in other income represents approximately 1.1%. Neither measure approaches the State Media Matrix threshold of more than 50%.

ITN therefore does not meet the Matrix condition for predominant state funding. Its commercial revenue, particularly airtime and production income, remains the main recurring source of finance. State capital injections, asset-related grants and future equipment allocations should continue to be monitored, especially given ITN’s history of accumulated losses, but the latest audited evidence does not justify coding it as predominantly state-funded.

Editorial independence

ITN’s editorial autonomy is substantially compromised by its ownership and governance structure. Assessments obtained by State Media Monitor from Sri Lankan journalists and media experts in May 2023, September 2024 and July 2025 consistently described pervasive government influence over editorial decisions and characterised the broadcaster as closely aligned with the administration in office.

No ITN-specific legislation was identified that guarantees newsroom independence, restricts government intervention in editorial appointments or requires politically balanced reporting. Nor was a binding public editorial charter, independent ombudsman, external editorial complaints body or mechanism empowered to audit ITN’s political balance identified. Unlike the SLRC Act, which at least contains formal accuracy and impartiality obligations, ITN’s corporate framework contains no publicly accessible equivalent safeguard.

The approval of the chairman by Parliament’s Committee on High Posts provides limited procedural scrutiny, but it does not alter the underlying concentration of control. The government owns every share, determines the board and retains the effective power to replace the corporation’s leadership. Editorial standards therefore operate under a governing structure appointed by the same state institutions that ITN is expected to cover.

AI and digital policy

ITN distributes programming and news through its television and radio services, the ITN News portal, online streaming and social-media channels.

No publicly accessible ITN editorial policy was identified governing generative artificial intelligence, synthetic media, automated news production, verification of AI-assisted material or disclosure to audiences. No binding national framework was identified that establishes detailed, state-media-specific editorial rules for such uses.

ITN personnel participated in an AI Growth Lab organised through the Sri Lanka Press Institute in July 2026, receiving training in tools including Gemini, NotebookLM and Pinpoint and in principles for responsible newsroom use. Participation in training does not by itself establish how extensively ITN uses these systems in published or broadcast content.

Classification rationale

ITN remains classified Captured Public / State-Managed (CaPu), meeting two of the three State Media Matrix conditions.

It is state-owned and state-governed. All 9.5 million shares are vested in the Secretary to the Treasury, the company falls within the government’s mass-media portfolio, and its board and chair are selected through state-controlled procedures. Parliamentary approval of the chair provides a limited procedural check but does not create an arm’s-length nomination or appointment system.

Its editorial agenda is subject to state control. No dedicated statute, enforceable editorial charter or independent external body protects the newsroom from its state-appointed leadership. RSF reports very limited editorial independence at Sri Lanka’s state-owned broadcasters, while successive SMM expert assessments describe ITN’s output and editorial decisions as closely aligned with government interests.

The funding condition is not met. ITN recorded total income of approximately LKR 1.959 billion in 2024. Government financing recorded during the year amounted to LKR 109.95 million, equivalent to approximately 5.6% of that income, while only LKR 21.19 million in amortised grants was recognised directly in other income. Commercial airtime, programme-production and related revenue remained overwhelmingly dominant.

The CaPu classification is therefore based on the composition of ITN’s funding, not on any finding that the broadcaster is independent. The latest audited evidence makes the distinction clearer than the previous reliance on 2020 and 2023 estimates.

July 2026