Radio Hongkong

What Radio Hongkong does

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK / 香港電台) is the public broadcasting service of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, established in 1928 as a radio broadcaster and expanded into television production during the 1970s under the current name. Operating as a government department under the Commerce and Economic Development Branch, RTHK delivers a comprehensive multi-platform media portfolio: five free-to-air digital terrestrial television channels (TV31 through TV35), six owned radio stations (Radio 1-5 and the Putonghua Channel), and two relay stations (港聲 relaying CNR Hong Kong Voice; 灣聲 relaying CMG Greater Bay Voice), plus a globally accessible website (rthk.hk), Podcast One platform, and the RTHK隨身版 mobile application.

The technical infrastructure supports live streaming, on-demand catch-up archives spanning up to 12 months, and SSL-encrypted web transmission. Content is produced in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and English, with dedicated portals for eight ethnic minority languages (Indonesian, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese). Programming spans news and current affairs (morning, midday, evening, and night news bulletins; Money Talk; 一桶金), financial reporting (e線金融網), cultural content (中華文化 portal, 戲曲之夜, 動人的中國旋律), educational programming (e-Learning/WEB+, STEM, ABU Robocon), entertainment (drama, music), sports (體感天地, 體．港台), and community-generated content via the Community Involvement Broadcasting Service (CIBS).

RTHK's business model is direct government appropriation rather than commercial revenue: broadcast services are free-to-air with no subscription, advertising, or paywall model, and the organization holds no private shareholders or external investors. The customer base is the general Hong Kong public segmented horizontally across Cantonese, Mandarin, and English speakers, plus ethnic minority communities, Chinese cultural audiences, and youth participants. Distribution extends globally via web and podcast syndication, and into the Greater Bay Area via FM relay partnerships with mainland national broadcasters CNR and CMG, plus social media presence on Weibo, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu.

Name

Radio Hongkong

Legal name

Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority (香港電台)

Website

https://rthk.hk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1928

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is Hong Kong's government public broadcaster, operating five free-to-air TV channels, eight radio stations (including CNR and CMG relays), a podcast platform, and multilingual programming in Chinese, English, and eight ethnic minority languages since 1928.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Kowloon City

HQ country

Hong Kong SAR China

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Radio Hongkong (RTHK) is Hong Kong's public broadcaster, operating five free-to-air digital television channels (TV31–TV35), seven FM/AM radio stations (Radio 1–5, Putonghua Channel, plus relays of CNR Hong Kong Voice and CMG Greater Bay Voice), a website with live and on-demand streaming, the Podcast One platform, and a mobile app. It produces and distributes news, current affairs, cultural, educational, and entertainment programming in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and multiple ethnic-minority languages.

Product overview

RTHK operates as a public service broadcaster offering a multi-platform media portfolio comprising 5 TV channels (TV31-TV35) covering news, lifestyle, documentaries, and international content; 8 radio stations including 6 Cantonese/Mandarin stations (Radio 1-5, Putonghua), and 2 relayed stations (港聲 and 灣聲); Podcast One for on-demand content; news services with real-time coverage; e-Learning educational platform; Community Involvement Broadcasting Service (CIBS) for community-generated content; and a Chinese Culture portal. The company provides content in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, serving Hong Kong audiences with news, entertainment, cultural, and educational programming across broadcast, streaming, and mobile platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Radio 1 (第一台): General interest radio channel with news, current affairs, and talk programs
• Radio 2 (第二台)
• Radio 3 (第三台)
• Radio 4 (第四台)
• Radio 5 (第五台)
• Putonghua Channel (普通話台)
• TV31 (港台電視 31)
• TV32 (港台電視 32)
• Podcast One
• CIBS (Community Involvement Broadcasting Service)

Products and services

• RTHK TV (港台電視) Free-to-air digital terrestrial television broadcasting across five channels: TV31 (general programming, news, documentaries), TV32 (lifestyle, health, information, sports), TV33 (documentaries), TV34, and TV35 (Global Business and international content). Targets Hong Kong households with DTT receivers.
• RTHK Radio Stations Multi-channel FM and AM radio service including Radio 1 (general/Cantonese news and current affairs), Radio 2 (music and entertainment), Radio 3 (English-language programming), Radio 4 (classical music), Radio 5 (Cantonese opera, seniors, culture), Putonghua/Mandarin Channel, 港聲 (relay of CNR Hong Kong Voice), and 灣聲 (relay of CMG Greater Bay Voice).
• Podcast One Digital podcast platform providing on-demand audio and video access to RTHK radio and TV program archives, with categories spanning news, finance, knowledge, culture, lifestyle, family, entertainment, music, drama, and sports.
• RTHK News Services
• e-Learning (WEB+)
• Community Involvement Broadcasting Service (CIBS)
• 中華文化 (Chinese Culture Portal)
• RTHK Mobile Apps (RTHK隨身版)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BBC: The UK's public service broadcaster operates a comparable multi-platform portfolio of radio, TV, digital, and podcast services funded through a public mandate, making it the most structurally similar analog to RTHK's model.
• NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation): Japan's public broadcaster operates radio and TV channels funded by viewer fees with multilingual international broadcasting — a comparable East Asian public service broadcasting model serving a major metropolitan market.
• ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Australia's national public broadcaster operates multi-channel radio, TV, and digital podcast services with public funding, mirroring RTHK's structure of public-mandated multi-platform broadcasting.
• CBC/Radio-Canada: Canada's public broadcaster operates bilingual (English/French) radio, TV, and digital services with public funding, making it directly comparable to RTHK's multilingual public service mandate.
• KBS (Korean Broadcasting System): South Korea's public broadcaster operates terrestrial radio and TV channels with public funding — a comparable East Asian public service model serving a culturally distinct metropolitan audience.
• MediaCorp: Singapore's dominant broadcaster operates free-to-air TV, radio, and digital services serving a multilingual population under government-linked ownership — closely mirroring RTHK's public service role in an Asian city-state context.

Regional players

• TVB: Hong Kong's dominant commercial free-to-air broadcaster competes directly with RTHK's TV31-TV35 channels for the same Cantonese-speaking audience but operates on a commercial, advertising-funded model.
• Commercial Radio Hong Kong: Hong Kong's leading commercial radio broadcaster operates Cantonese-language FM stations competing directly with RTHK's Radio 1-5 for the same local listenership on a commercial advertising model.
• ViuTV: Hong Kong's newer free-to-air TV broadcaster targets younger demographics with entertainment and lifestyle programming, competing with RTHK's TV channels and digital-first content strategy.
• Phoenix Television: Hong Kong-headquartered Mandarin-language broadcaster serving Greater China audiences via satellite and OTT distribution — comparable cross-border broadcasting model targeting Chinese-speaking markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tweet
• YouTubeyoutube.com/rthk
• Facebookfacebook.com/RTHK.HK
• Instagraminstagram.com/rthk.hk

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Radio Hongkong