Teledifusão de Macau (TDM)
TDM (Teledifusão de Macau, S.A.) is Macau’s public broadcaster, firmly rooted in the city’s cultural and linguistic heritage. Offering content in Chinese, Portuguese, English, Indonesian, and Tagalog, it serves a melting pot audience with a multilingual and multicultural programming slate. Alongside six local TV channels, TDM also rebroadcasts eight mainland Chinese channels—including CCTV‑1, CCTV‑13, CGTN, CGTN Documentary, Straits TV, Hunan TV World, Southeast TV, and GDTV World. . It also oversees Rádio Macau and supplementary audiovisual platforms.
Media assets
Television: TDM Ou Mun, Canal Macau, TDM Sport, TDM Information, TDM Entertainment, TDM Macau World
Radio: Radio Macau
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
Fully government‑owned, TDM is under the umbrella of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). Its governing body—the Council of Administration—is appointed directly by the Chief Executive of Macau.
Source of funding and budget
TDM’s financial backbone remains heavily reliant on government subsidies. In 2020, it received approximately MOP 365 million (US $45.6 million) in public funding, alongside MOP 90.6 million (US $11.3 million) in self‑generated revenue.
Funding tapered slightly in subsequent years, with subsidies of over MOP 314 million (US$ 38.9 million) in 2022 and MOP 311 million (US$ 38.6 million) in 2023. A company report states that in 2024, TDM was awarded a total government subsidy of MOP 315 million (US$ 41.7 million).
Editorial independence
A recent audience survey from 2023 revealed that about 70 percent of Macau residents (over 422,400 people) tune into TDM’s TV channels, while around 30 percent (over 179,700 people) listen to Rádio Macau.
TDM once operated with a measure of editorial autonomy, but in recent years it has come under steadily intensifying censorship pressures from Beijing, channelled through the Macau SAR government. In the spring of 2021, the broadcaster’s executive committee introduced a new set of editorial guidelines explicitly prohibiting reporters from criticizing the authorities.
The implementation of these rules prompted a wave of resignations from newsroom staff, signalling the depth of internal dissent. Since then, journalists within TDM have consistently reported that censorship has become embedded in daily practice. Over the past two years, multiple accounts have surfaced of direct government instructions shaping the broadcaster’s editorial line.
At present, there is neither a domestic statute nor any independent oversight mechanism capable of assessing, or protecting, TDM’s editorial independence. This absence of structural protections leaves the organisation acutely vulnerable to political influence and limits its capacity to serve as a truly independent public service broadcaster.
August 2025