Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)

Founded in 1928 as Hong Kong’s first broadcasting service, RTHK is the territory’s public service broadcaster and a department of the Hong Kong Government. It operates eight radio channels and five digital terrestrial television channels in Cantonese, English and Putonghua. Five of those thirteen channels are relays of mainland Chinese state broadcasters. Its 2026 to 2027 provision is HK$1.124 billion, 26.7 per cent below the revised 2025 to 2026 estimate, much of the reduction reflecting the expiry of exceptional National Games expenditure alongside government-wide fiscal consolidation.

Media assets

Television: RTHK TV 31, general programming on current affairs, education, arts, culture and minority interests; RTHK TV 32, relaunched on 20 July 2026 as a news, current affairs and government information channel with expanded anchor-led and English-language programming, retaining its live-event function, and described by RTHK as a platform to assist the government in explaining policies and to enable departments to communicate policy priorities; RTHK TV 33, relaying China Central Television Channel 1; RTHK TV 34, relaying China Global Television Network Documentary; and RTHK TV 35, relaying CGTN. A pop-up channel, TV 36, carried 1,272 hours of the 15th National Games, the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games

Radio: Channel 1, Cantonese news and information; Channel 2, Cantonese entertainment and popular music; Channel 3, English news and information; Channel 4, serious music and fine arts in English and Cantonese; Channel 5, Cantonese programming for the elderly, culture and education; Channel 6, relaying China National Radio Hong Kong Edition; Channel 7, general programming, news and finance and the Community Involvement Broadcasting Service; and Channel 8, relaying Radio the Greater Bay of China Media Group

Digital: rthk.hk and mobile applications, currently being consolidated, with social distribution on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Xiaohongshu, Weibo and Bilibili

Three of the five television channels and two of the eight radio channels carry mainland state broadcast output rather than RTHK’s own. Only TV 31 and TV 32 originate RTHK television programming.

Ownership and governance

RTHK is a government department under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. Its governance includes a Board of Advisors of fourteen members appointed by the Chief Executive under the RTHK Charter, promulgated by the government in August 2010. The Board advises the Director of Broadcasting on editorial principles, programming standards and performance, and receives reports on complaints; it does not itself adjudicate them. The Director of Broadcasting is a government-appointed senior civil servant and sits on the Board ex officio.

The Board was reconstituted during the review period. On 28 August 2026 the government announced that the Chief Executive had appointed Melissa Kaye Pang to succeed Lam Tai-fai as chair with effect from 1 September 2026, reappointing ten existing members and appointing two new ones.

Angelina Kwan Yuen-yee, JP, a career Administrative Officer with nearly three decades of government service, became Director of Broadcasting in January 2025 and remained in post at the date of RTHK’s organisation chart of 7 April 2026. She had risen through the civil service since 1996, holding senior roles across the security, welfare, housing and Chief Executive’s Office portfolios, most recently as Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare. Christine Wai Yee-yan, JP, is Deputy Director of Broadcasting.

RTHK’s performance is assessed against eight Programme Production Goals drawn from the Charter. Alongside the provision of accurate and impartial news and a platform for the free exchange of views without fear or favour, these include promoting understanding of One Country, Two Systems and engendering a sense of citizenship and national identity, and encouraging social inclusion while injecting positive energy into society.

Source of funding and budget

Government appropriation overwhelmingly predominates in RTHK’s funding. Its operating provision is made directly through Head 160 of the annual government estimates, and it does not operate an advertising-funded commercial model, although limited supplementary receipts such as non-commercial sponsorship and content licensing have existed.

In April 2025 the government announced that RTHK would comprehensively review its operations, production and staffing following criticism from legislators over the scale of its funding, as part of the government-wide Productivity Enhancement Programme. The 2026 to 2027 estimates provide HK$1,123.9 million against a revised HK$1,532.7 million for 2025 to 2026, a reduction of HK$408.8 million or 26.7 per cent.

The reduction falls unevenly. Television provision falls 41.7 per cent to HK$574.4 million, which the estimates attribute mainly to the lapse of additional provision for the production, promotion and live broadcast of the 15th National Games and associated events; 2025 to 2026 was itself an abnormally expensive year for that reason. Radio falls 15.3 per cent to HK$414.9 million. New media rises 133.7 per cent to HK$134.6 million, but this is largely a resource reclassification: expenditure previously carried under radio and television for new-media production has been consolidated under Programme 3, and the nine posts recorded as additions are transfers within that redistribution rather than new manpower. Establishment falls overall from 758 posts at 31 March 2026 to 743 a year later.

Editorial independence

For decades RTHK held a reputation for editorial autonomy, grounded in the Charter and its editorial policies, and was regarded as a trusted source of independent journalism in Hong Kong. That standing has come under sustained pressure since the imposition of the national security law.

In June 2020 a programme was terminated after complaints from the police, and two months later the broadcaster removed an interview with an activist wanted by the authorities. The appointment of Patrick Li, a career civil servant, as Director of Broadcasting in February 2021 coincided with numerous journalist resignations, as documented by Hong Kong Watch in April 2022. Programmes were removed from online platforms and new programming guidelines curtailed editorial freedom, with producers able to be held financially liable for expenditure on programmes subsequently cancelled. Public trust fell to 53 per cent by June 2022, down from 59 per cent a year earlier.

The 2026 to 2027 estimates make the current editorial direction explicit rather than inferred. Among the matters requiring special attention, RTHK undertakes to strengthen co-production of television programmes with mainland broadcasters “that foster the affection for our country”; to present “more programmes with national perspectives to strengthen social cohesion and public understanding”; and to “strengthen the programming of TV 32 to promote and publicise government policies and messages.” These are the broadcaster’s own stated objectives, published in the government estimates. The relaunch of TV 32 in July 2026 as a channel assisting the government in explaining policies gives operational effect to the last of them.

The Charter states that RTHK’s mission is to provide an impartial platform for the exchange of views without fear or favour, that editorial independence must be preserved, and that the Director of Broadcasting bears ultimate responsibility for safeguarding it. The Television Appreciation Index Advisory Panel and the Programming Advisory Panel provide internal review. Those formal safeguards have not prevented sustained government and management intervention in programming and editorial priorities since 2020.

AI and digital policy

RTHK’s adoption of artificial intelligence is more advanced than its published governance. It launched an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in July 2024, and government documentation records applications including the restoration of archive footage, image and video enhancement, translation, text-to-image and text-to-video generation, AI-assisted production, and an AI presenter named Aida. The 2026 to 2027 material adds AI-assisted subtitling and titling, automated tagging, generative tools for editing and social content, and a large language model chatbot on the RTHK website launched in July 2025. The estimates commit RTHK to providing new media services “with the application of new information technology and artificial intelligence technology” in fulfilment of the Charter’s purposes.

State Media Monitor found no publicly available RTHK-specific editorial policy, as of August 2026, setting rules for generative AI verification, provenance or audience disclosure.

Classification rationale

RTHK remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-owned and state-governed without qualification. RTHK is a department of the Hong Kong Government under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. Its Board of Advisors is appointed in its entirety by the Chief Executive and is advisory in function; its Director of Broadcasting is a senior civil servant appointed by government and sits on that Board ex officio. RTHK’s programming is subject to the Communications Authority’s codes and complaints mechanism, but no independent governing body exists with authority to appoint management, safeguard institutional independence or control strategic governance.

It is predominantly state-funded. RTHK’s operating provision is made directly through Head 160 of the government estimates, HK$1,123.9 million for 2026 to 2027, and it operates no advertising-funded commercial model. That the government could reduce its provision by 26.7 per cent following a review of its operations demonstrates the directness of the financial relationship.

Its editorial agenda is directed by the state. The broadcaster’s own budget submissions commit it to fostering affection for the country, presenting programmes with national perspectives, and using a television channel to promote and publicise government policies, with the July 2026 relaunch of TV 32 giving that effect. Five of its thirteen broadcast channels relay mainland state output. This direction is documented in government estimates rather than inferred from practice, and it operates alongside the record of programme removals, guideline changes and staff departures since 2020.

August 2026