Teledifusão de Macau (TDM)

TDM is Macao’s public broadcaster, broadcasting primarily in Chinese and Portuguese, with English output and selected Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia programming. It is constituted as a public-capital commercial company governed by its statutes, commercial law and Macao’s public-capital-enterprise framework, and operates under a government concession for television and sound broadcasting first concluded in 1990 and most recently renewed on 18 June 2026 for fifteen years. Its Council of Administration is chaired by Kou Hoi In, a former President of Macao’s Legislative Assembly and a current member of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress.

Media assets

Terrestrial television: TDM Ou Mun, Canal Macau, TDM Sport, TDM Information and TDM Entertainment

Satellite television: Ou Mun-Macau, Channel 96, developed as a satellite service aimed particularly at Portuguese-speaking markets

Radio: two services, Ou Mun Tin Toi in Chinese and Rádio Macau in Portuguese, the latter also carrying selected programming in Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia

Mainland channels carried or distributed: nine, comprising CCTV-1, CCTV-5, CCTV-13, CGTN, CGTN Documentary, Straits TV, Hunan TV World, Southeast TV and GDTV World. TDM documentation distinguishes between channels it retransmits directly and those for which it provides technical transmission and distribution support

Digital: tdm.com.mo, the TDM App, and distribution across WeChat, YouTube, Facebook, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other platforms

Basic channel reception: Macau Basic Television Channels Limited was absorbed into TDM in December 2023, leaving TDM responsible for technical assistance with reception of the territory’s basic television channels, a function now incorporated into the renewed concession

TDM’s 2025 accounts record increased direct costs from transmission outside the territory, specifically carriage of TDM Ou Mun in Guangdong Province and expanded limited distribution elsewhere in mainland China.

Ownership and governance

TDM is entirely publicly owned. Government accounts record approximately 99.94 per cent of its capital held directly by the Macao Special Administrative Region and 0.06 per cent by autonomous public entities, making it a 100 per cent public-capital enterprise.

Its activity is scrutinised by a General Assembly of Shareholders, a Council of Administration and a Supervisory Board, which meet periodically in the presence of a government delegate to discuss and approve the company’s activity and accounts. The Council of Administration is appointed by the Chief Executive of Macao, who also appoints and dismisses individual members by executive order. Kou Hoi In chairs the Council. Lo Song Man is vice-chairman and chairs the Executive Committee, and Lam Wai Lon is the government delegate, reappointed from March 2026.

The concession was renewed during the review period. The Secretary for Transport and Public Works issued Order 33/2026, subdelegating the powers necessary to represent the Macao Special Administrative Region in signing the renewal, which was concluded on 18 June 2026 for a further fifteen years. The renewed agreement expressly gives the government grantor powers of continuing supervision, provides for the government delegate, and incorporates TDM’s role assisting reception of basic television channels. It also requires TDM to broadcast, free and in full, official communiqués and notices that the government considers necessary in the public interest.

Source of funding and budget

Government subsidy is financially determinative for TDM.

In 2025 the company received approximately MOP 354.4 million in total government subsidy, comprising an operating subsidy of MOP 339.31 million and an investment subsidy of MOP 15.09 million. The equivalent 2024 total was approximately MOP 335.70 million, made up of MOP 315.68 million operating and MOP 20.02 million investment support. Total subsidy therefore rose by MOP 18.7 million, or 5.57 per cent, with the operating component alone rising by roughly 7.5 per cent.

Own revenue moved the other way. TDM’s 2025 accounts, reported in April 2026, record total revenue falling by MOP 3.85 million, or 3.22 per cent, which the Council of Administration attributed directly to reduced private sector advertising, alongside lower income from other sources as bank deposit rates declined. Total costs rose by MOP 10.99 million, or 2.5 per cent.

The decisive figure is the counterfactual. TDM reported a net profit of approximately MOP 16.7 million in 2025, against MOP 13.2 million in 2024, while its result before government subsidies would have been approximately MOP 337.7 million negative.

Editorial independence

In March 2021 RSF and journalists reported that TDM management had issued nine editorial instructions, including directions that journalists should not criticise Macao or central government authorities, prompting several newsroom departures. TDM denied that its editorial rules had changed or that journalists had been instructed not to express opposing views.

Subsequent accounts from journalists have described increasing self-censorship and management intervention, with reports of direct government instructions shaping the editorial line and an insider confirming a higher degree of censorship.

The formal position is more mixed than a bare absence. Macao law protects press freedom generally, and the 2026 concession requires news and information to respect truth, impartiality, objectivity and honesty, prohibiting false, tendentious or unverified news. The same instrument gives the government continuing supervisory authority and obliges TDM to carry official communiqués free and in full. State Media Monitor identified no TDM-specific independent governance mechanism capable of insulating editorial appointments or newsroom decision-making from its government owner and government-appointed management, and no independent editorial-governance body: the Supervisory Board, the government delegate, public-enterprise supervision and external financial auditing address finance and compliance rather than newsroom independence.

Audience reach remains substantial. A 2024 survey found that approximately 84.4 per cent of Macao residents, about 518,000 people, had watched TDM television during the preceding six months, with approximately 34.2 per cent watching daily.

AI and digital policy

TDM has begun publicly deploying generative artificial intelligence in content production. In August 2026 it broadcast the ten-part AI live-action micro-drama Herbal Legacy, jointly developed with the Macau University of Science and Technology and produced using AI across areas including visual scene generation and music. TDM marketed the programme explicitly as AI Theatre, so at least this use was disclosed to audiences.

State Media Monitor nevertheless identified no comprehensive publicly available TDM newsroom policy governing generative AI verification, model provenance or disclosure in news and current affairs production.

Macao has no generally applicable statutory requirement for broadcasters to label AI-generated content, though the issue has been raised politically and legislatively.

Classification rationale

TDM remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is 100 per cent publicly owned and state-governed. Approximately 99.94 per cent of TDM’s capital is held directly by the Macao Special Administrative Region and 0.06 per cent by autonomous public entities. The Chief Executive appoints the Council of Administration and dismisses its members by executive order; a government delegate is embedded in the governance structure; and the chairman is a former President of the Legislative Assembly and a current member of the NPC Standing Committee. The 2026 concession expressly reserves continuing supervisory powers to the government.

It is predominantly state-funded, and decisively so. Total government subsidy reached approximately MOP 354.4 million in 2025, up 5.57 per cent, while own revenue fell 3.22 per cent on declining private sector advertising. TDM reported a net profit of MOP 16.7 million; before subsidy the result would have been approximately MOP 337.7 million negative.

Its editorial agenda is subject to state direction. Management instructions reported in March 2021 barred criticism of Macao and central government authorities and prompted newsroom departures, though TDM denied that its rules had changed. Journalists have since described self-censorship and management intervention. The 2026 concession formally requires impartiality while simultaneously obliging TDM to carry government communiqués in full and reserving supervisory authority to the grantor. No independent editorial-governance body exists.

August 2026