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NEWS AND SPEECHES

Education Broadcasting: Changing to Survive - The case of RTHK

Koo Kai-fai, Head Educational TV, Radio Television Hong Kong

I would like to thank CBA for the invitation so that we can have the chance to share with you our experience. The following is not an analysis. It is simply an account of what we have been doing.

May I first give you some background. Radio Television Hong Kong is a Public Broadcaster. We have no license fee, no subscription, and no advertising revenue. There is some sponsorship from non-profit making organizations in producing programmes. The majority of the funding comes from the government. So to get the biggest value for money, it has been our strategy to maximize reach to the audience and maximize the re-use, not the re-sale, value of the programmes.

I would like to give you an example which adequately reflects how we respond to change - the Sex Education Programme. In Hong Kong we took the lead in talking about sex openly on TV. We produced the first TV series of Sex Education in 1987, with the aim to enhance young people's knowledge of sex. So far 7 series have been produced under the same title. In 2002 we moved the target to children and produced a new series called Family Sex Education. And last year we launched SexEdOnline on our website.

So what are the changes? I would say that the changes lie in two areas:


First of all we go with the trend. A very important part of the change is in the way that our content is delivered. We started delivering programmes on the Internet in 1994. All programmes are now broadcast and webcast simultaneously on www.rthk.org.hk. We became both broadcaster and webcaster. In the year 2000, we saw the need of an education website mainly for students and teachers - www.eTVonline.tv was set up.

In the past programmes were retrieved from the archive only when repeated, or sold.

Internet and online access technology allow a round the clock and global presence. So we decide to put archive to the access of the public. It is our policy that the programmes will remain on our website within one year of broadcasting. Some of the programmes may stay even longer as special items.

To make a step further, eTVonline is doing a trial run with a scheme called e-distribution. We connect to schools that join the scheme, and deliver content to their servers on demand. This is a response to schools and teachers who often make requests to use our programmes to facilitate teaching.

The latest development is that RTHK is discussing with a 3G mobile phone service provider on the possibility of presenting our content on the new platform.

As on the subject of what, let us look at some of the hot terms in the Internet world: multimedia, portal, added value, interactive, etc. To us they simply mean that putting just the TV programmes onto the Net is not enough. Again we go with the trend. Multimedia is a minimum necessity.

We also find that the site is like a black-hole hungry with content, and we cannot do it alone. We have to find partners to do it, to maximize the breadth and depth of the educational content. Somehow we work towards the concept of a portal.

For SexEdOnline, we have a group of resource parties. They have strengths of their own. They contribute resources on one platform. The target to achieve is simple: You cannot avoid coming to our site if you want sex education content or teaching package.

In this site TV is a part, a very important part. We pour all our Sex Education programmes into it. We have the advantage of established brandname, with the broadcaster - RTHK and the programme - Sex Education. We play the leading role and pull the resource parties together.

So, we have changed. Then, what will be changed by us? One thing sure is that we have influenced the education authority. Teaching of Sex Education in schools has been rather conventional in format and style. In general there is no single subject called Sex Education. The materials are scattered and included in various subjects like biology and ethics education. After the launching of our site, they proposed to collaborate with us in producing online teaching package for teachers to use in school.

You may ask the question that after all these TV and Web content, do we need to further produce TV programmes? The answer is yes. We are thinking of producing another series of Sex Education, making use of materials from the website. It is working like a feedback system.

Everyone knows that interactivity is a superb advantage of the Internet. It is easier to have Q&A on the net than in TV programmes. We find that our Q&A corner on Sex EdOnline, Ask Doctor Sex, is very popular. It becomes easier for us to learn about the audience need with the Q&As. Interactivity with users has indeed influenced us in designing content of future production. Now we think differently. Producer may try to include interactive elements and Web content at the very beginning of the production.

The question is: Do we add value to the TV programmes with other website materials, or the TV programmes add value to the website?

So in the end what is primary, what is secondary - TV and Website? What is core, what is non-core? I would say that for us, TV is still primary. But Web content has become a necessity. We intend to build content with our programmes as the core. We believe that the co-existence of broadcasting and webcasting content will surely enhance our competitiveness.

With the success of SexEdOnline, you can easily guess that sites like Language Online or Hong Kong History Online will appear soon. The related programmes will be grouped together on the sites. We would try to make full use of our archive.

There are many things that we can do with this pattern of integrating broadcasting with webcasting. And the ultimate limitation is of course, resources. We are facing budget cut from the government. This pattern may be changed. If one day we have to generate our own revenue, it will be another battle to survive.

If you have time, please visit our websites and find out what we have done.