22 January 2013 Last updated at 07:07 ET

Taiwan profile

Newspaper reader in Taiwan Taiwan has hundreds of newspapers

The media environment in Taiwan is among the freest in Asia, and extremely competitive.

There are hundreds of newspapers, all privately-owned and reflecting a wide range of views. Laws which prohibit the promotion of independence from China or communism are not generally enforced.

Taiwan's major terrestrial TV networks tend to be politically partisan. The take-up of multichannel cable TV is very high. The switch to digital terrestrial TV was made in 2012.

There are more than 170 radio stations, many of them with specific music formats. Phone-in programmes are particularly popular.

The government has taken steps to end government, military and political party ownership of the broadcast media.

There were more than 17.5 million internet users by May 2012 (via InternetWorldStats). A digital convergence plan aims to integrate telecoms, the internet and broadcasting by 2014.

The press

United Daily News - Chinese-language

China Times - Chinese-language daily

The Liberty Times - Chinese-language daily

The China Post - English-language daily

Taipei Times - English-language daily

Taiwan News - English-language daily

Television

China Television Company (CTV) - commercial

Chinese Television System (CTS)

Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) - commercial

Formosa Television (FTV) - commercial

Public Television Service (PTS) - non-profit public broadcaster

Radio

Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) - national and regional networks

CBS-Radio Taiwan International - national broadcaster; also beams services to mainland China and the rest of the world in various languages and Chinese dialects

Public Radio System (PRS) - government-run; travel, weather, social information

International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) - English-language FM station

News agency/internet

Focus Taiwan - English-language service of state-run Central News Agency (CNA)

Central Daily News - Chinese-language, Nationalist (Kuomintang)

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RSS

Features & Analysis

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