Radio Television Brunei (RTB)

Radio Television Brunei (RTB) is Brunei Darussalam’s national state broadcaster, operating television, radio and digital services as a government department. Radio Brunei made its first transmission on 2 May 1957. Experimental television transmissions began in March 1975, followed by the launch of the regular television service on 9 July 1975. RTB completed its migration to high-definition digital television broadcasting on 1 January 2018.

Media assets

Television: RTB Perdana, RTB Aneka and RTB Sukmaindera. RTB describes Perdana as carrying government policies, public information and verified news; Aneka concentrates on entertainment and family programming; and Sukmaindera is a 24-hour service devoted to local content and promotion of Brunei domestically and internationally.

Radio: Nasional FM, Pilihan FM, Pelangi FM, Harmoni FM and Nur Islam FM, all operating around the clock.

Ownership and governance

RTB is a government department under the Prime Minister’s Office. It is not incorporated as a company or statutory public corporation, and no dedicated constituting statute was identified that gives the broadcaster separate legal personality, establishes an autonomous governing board or protects it institutionally from its supervising government department. RTB’s own website identifies it formally as Radio Television Brunei, Prime Minister’s Office.

Its administrative history is more complex than earlier SMM descriptions suggested. Brunei’s official Information Department history records that the Brunei Information Service and Radio Brunei were merged on 1 January 1962 as the Broadcasting and Information Department. The two functions were separated in June 1975, recombined in December 1985 under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office on 20 October 1986, and separated again on 1 March 1991 into the Information Department and Radio Television Brunei, both within the Prime Minister’s Office. There is therefore documentary support for RTB’s transfer to the Prime Minister’s Office, although not for earlier references to a separate “Ministry of Information.”

The institutional location is significant. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is both head of state and Prime Minister and is identified by the Prime Minister’s Office as Brunei’s supreme executive authority. Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah serves as Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. No independent nomination process, parliamentary confirmation procedure or protected appointment system for RTB’s senior management was identified.

RTB’s current senior-management structure is highly provisional. Its official listing contains eleven senior positions, nine of which are marked as held in an acting capacity. Awang Cheong Chee Keong is Acting Director. Pengiran Haji Ismail bin Pengiran Haji Mohd. Kifli is Acting Deputy Director for Operations and Awang Mohd. Zulkarnain bin Haji Brahim @ Ahmad is Acting Deputy Director for Development. The heads of News and Current Affairs, Television Programmes, Radio Programmes, Technical Services and Channel Broadcast and Control are also acting appointments, as is the head of Marketing and Promotion. Only the heads of Policy and Planning and Research and Development are listed substantively; the latter officer simultaneously holds the acting marketing position.

RTB has no dedicated public-broadcasting Act comparable to the statutes governing some state broadcasters elsewhere in Asia. It nevertheless operates within Brunei’s broader Broadcasting Act, Chapter 180. That legislation does not establish editorial independence. On the contrary, it gives the responsible minister substantial authority over licensed broadcasters, including powers to require programme material to be submitted for inspection or approval, to direct broadcasters concerning programme and advertising content and broadcasting standards, and to require specified public-service programming.

Source of funding and budget

RTB’s departmental budget is financed directly through government appropriation within the Prime Minister’s Office.

Official government expenditure data provide a continuous RTB-specific series. RTB was allocated approximately BND 41.34 million in FY2019/20, BND 42.21 million in 2020/21, BND 40.41 million in 2021/22, BND 40.41 million in 2022/23, BND 39.84 million in 2023/24, BND 40.29 million in 2024/25 and BND 40.94 million in FY2025/26.

RTB is not entirely non-commercial. Its official services include paid advertising on television, radio and RTBGo, as well as commercial services including programme copies, promotional material and other media-related products.

The available evidence nevertheless places RTB comfortably within the State Media Matrix funding condition: its official departmental budget is a direct state appropriation, while the publicly documented commercial activities are supplementary and no evidence indicates that they provide half or more of its annual resources.

Editorial independence

RTB’s institutional mandate explicitly connects broadcasting with government communication and nation-building. Its published core functions include upholding the image of a caring and effective government, strengthening connections between government and the people, promoting the Malay Islamic Monarchy philosophy and supporting national development. RTB also describes itself as a strategic partner in nation-building.

This differs fundamentally from an institutional mandate centred on editorial independence from government. RTB Perdana’s own service description identifies dissemination of government policies and information among its principal functions.

No RTB-specific statutory guarantee of newsroom independence, independently constituted governing body, enforceable editorial charter or external editorial ombudsman was identified. RTB does maintain internal channels through which members of the public may make complaints, but these are administrative complaint mechanisms within the broadcaster rather than independent editorial oversight.

The wider broadcasting legislation provides no compensating editorial firewall. The Broadcasting Act gives the responsible minister powers to require material to be submitted before transmission, issue directions concerning programme and advertising content and prohibit programmes or categories of material. Its public-service-programming provision similarly allows the minister to require broadcasters to carry specified government-provided material, including news and information.

AI and digital policy

RTB distributes material through its websites, RTBGo, online streaming and social-media channels. No publicly accessible RTB-specific editorial policy was identified governing generative artificial intelligence, synthetic media, automated production, verification of AI-assisted material or disclosure of such use to audiences.

Brunei does have a broader emerging AI-governance framework. In April 2025, the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry issued the Guide on AI Governance and Ethics for Brunei Darussalam, setting principles including transparency and explainability, fairness, security, human-centred design and accountability.

The government subsequently launched Digital Brunei 2030 in June 2026, incorporating a cross-cutting Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Neither initiative constitutes a binding RTB editorial code or establishes specific disclosure requirements for AI-generated broadcast journalism.

Classification rationale

RTB remains classified State-Controlled (SC), meeting all three conditions of the State Media Matrix.

It is predominantly state-funded. RTB’s official departmental allocation amounted to approximately BND 40.94 million in FY2025/26 and is provided directly through the government budget. RTB also sells advertising and other services, so government appropriation should not be described as literally its only form of revenue. No evidence indicates, however, that commercial receipts approach the Matrix threshold of 50% of annual resources.

It is state-owned and state-governed in an unusually direct form. RTB is itself a department of the Prime Minister’s Office rather than a separately incorporated state enterprise. It has no independent governing board or separate legal personality and no RTB-specific statutory appointment system designed to insulate management from government authority. Nine of the eleven senior-management functions currently listed by RTB are held in an acting capacity.

Its editorial agenda is subject to state control. RTB’s own mandate requires it to uphold the image of the government, strengthen the relationship between government and citizens and support national development. No enforceable editorial firewall or independent oversight system counterbalances that role. Brunei’s wider Broadcasting Act gives the minister substantial powers over programme material and required public-service content rather than establishing editorial autonomy.

There are limited countervailing elements that should nevertheless be acknowledged. RTB provides internal public-complaints channels, earns some commercial revenue and operates within a general statutory broadcasting framework. None amounts to an institutional guarantee of independence: the complaints process is internal, commercial receipts do not displace government budget financing, and the Broadcasting Act confers ministerial control powers rather than an autonomous public-service governance structure.

August 2026