21 January 2013 Last updated at 06:06 ET

Hong Kong profile

• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
• Timeline

Hong Kong is home to many of Asia's biggest media players. The territory has one of the world's largest film industries and is a major centre for broadcasting and publishing.

It has kept its editorially-dynamic media, in contrast to the rest of China where official control over broadcasting is pervasive.

However, Beijing's "growing influence" has led to self-censorship, US-based Freedom House reported in 2012. It cited the "close relationship" between Hong Kong media owners and the Beijing authorities.

Public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) was established under British rule in 1928 and operates as a government department. Critics say proposals to create a new, "independent" public broadcaster could allow the government to set up a more compliant body.

Multitude of papers

Most households subscribe to multichannel pay-TV. International and pan-Asian broadcasters are based in Hong Kong, including News Corp's STAR TV.

Terrestrial commercial stations TVB and ATV reach viewers in neighbouring Guangdong Province.

There are scores of Chinese-language newspapers and a handful of English-language dailies. BBC World Service is carried 24 hours via RTHK Radio 6 (675 kHz).

By June 2012, 5.3 million Hong Kong residents were online, a penetration rate of nearly 75% (Internetworldstats.com). There are no reports of widespread censorship or filtering.

Among the most popular sites are Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube and Google Hong Kong.

The press

Nearly three quarters of Hong Kong residents are internet users

• South China Morning Post - English-language daily
• The Standard - business-oriented English-language daily
• Tung Fang Jih Pao - Oriental Daily News
• Ping Kuo Jih Pao - Apple Daily
• Ming Pao - daily
• Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po - managed from Beijing, follow Communist Party line
• Wall Street Journal - Chinese edition

Television

• Radio-TV Hong Kong (RTHK) - government-funded
• Asia TV (ATV) - private, terrestrial
• Television Broadcasts (TVB) - private, terrestrial

Radio

• Radio-TV Hong Kong (RTHK) - government-funded, operates seven networks in English, Cantonese, Mandarin
• Commercial Radio - operates CR1, CR2 networks in Cantonese and mediumwave (AM) station AM 864
• Metro Broadcast - operates Metro Showbiz, Metro Finance and English-language Metro Plus