title: Abortion in India

text: Abortion in India has been legal under various circumstances with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Regulations, 2003 were issued under the Act to enable women to access safe and legal abortion services.


title: Abortion in India

text: In 2021, MTP Amendment Act 2021 was passed with certain amendments to the MTP Act 1971, such as women being allowed to seek safe abortion services on grounds of contraceptive failure, increase in gestation limit to 24 weeks for special categories of women, and opinion of one abortion service provider required up to 20 weeks of gestation. Abortion can now be performed until 24 weeks pregnancy as the MTP Amendment Act 2021 has come in force by notification in Gazette from 24 September 2021. The cost of the abortion service is covered fully by the government's public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees' State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion being set at which includes consultation, therapy, hospitalization, medication, ultrasound, and follow-up treatments. For medical abortion, the package rate is set at which includes consultation and USG.


title: Abortion in India

text: When a woman gets a pregnancy terminated voluntarily from a service provider, it is called induced abortion. Spontaneous abortion is the loss of a woman's pregnancy before the 20th week that can be both physically and emotionally painful. In common language, it is called a miscarriage.


title: Abortion in India

text: Unsafe abortion was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "a procedure for termination of a pregnancy done by an individual who does not have the necessary training or in an environment not conforming to minimal medical standards." However, with abortion technology now becoming safer, this has been replaced by a three tier classification of safe, less safe, and least safe permitting a more nuanced description of the spectrum of varying situations that constitute unsafe abortion and the increasingly widespread substitution of dangerous, invasive methods with use of misoprostol outside the formal health system.


title: Abortion in India

text: Before 1971, abortion was criminalized under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, describing it as intentionally "causing miscarriage". Except in cases where abortion was carried out to save the life of the woman, it was a punishable offense and criminalized women/providers, with whoever voluntarily caused a woman with child to miscarry facing three years in prison and/or a fine, and the woman availing of the service facing seven years in prison and/or a fine.


title: Abortion in India

text: It was in the 1960s, when abortion was legal in 15 countries, that deliberation on a legal framework for induced abortion in India was initiated. The alarmingly increased number of abortions taking place put the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on alert. To address this, the government of India instated a committee in 1964 led by Shantilal Shah to come up with suggestions to draft the abortion law for India. The recommendations of this committee were accepted in 1970 and introduced in the Parliament as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill. This bill was passed in August 1971 as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which was authored by Sripati Chandrasekhar.


title: Abortion in India

text: A study in 2018 estimated that 15.6 million abortions took place in India in 2015. A significant proportion of these are expected to be unsafe. Unsafe abortion is the third largest cause of maternal mortality leading to death of 10 women each day and thousands more facing morbidities. There is a need to strengthen women's access to CAC services and preventing deaths and disabilities faced by them.


title: Abortion in India

text: The last large-scale study on induced abortion in India was conducted in 2002 as part of the Abortion Assessment Project. The studies as part of this project estimated 6.4 million abortions annually in India.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 provides the legal framework for making CAC services available in India. Termination of pregnancy is permitted for a broad range of conditions up to 20 weeks of gestation as detailed below:


title: Abortion in India

text: The MTP Act specifies – (i) who can terminate a pregnancy; (ii) till when a pregnancy can be terminated; and (iii) where can a pregnancy be terminated. The MTP Rules and Regulations, 2003 detail training and certification requirements for a provider and facility; and provide reporting and documentation requirements for safe and legal termination of pregnancy.


title: Abortion in India

text: As per the MTP Act, pregnancy can be terminated only by a registered medical practitioner (RMP) who meets the following requirements:


title: Abortion in India

text: All government hospitals are by default permitted to provide CAC services. Facilities in the private sector however require approval of the government. The approval is sought from a committee constituted at the district level called the District Level Committee (DLC) with three to five members. As per the MTP Rules, 2003 the following forms are prescribed for approval of a private place to provide MTP services:


title: Abortion in India

text: As per the provisions of the MTP Act, only the consent of woman whose pregnancy is being terminated is required. However, in case of a minor i.e. below the age of 18 years, or a woman with mental illness, consent of guardian (MTP Act defines guardian as someone who has the care of the minor. This does not imply that only parent/s are required to consent.) is required for termination. The MTP Rules, 2003 prescribe that consent needs to be documented on Form C as detailed below:


title: Abortion in India

text: The MTP Act details that for terminations up to 12 weeks, the opinion of a single Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) is required and for terminations between 12 and 20 weeks the opinion of two RMP's is required. However, termination is conducted by one RMP. The MTP Regulations, 2003 prescribe opinion of RMP/s to be recorded on Form I as detailed below:


title: Abortion in India

text: The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971, was amended in 2002 to facilitate better implementation and increase access for women especially in the private health sector.


title: Abortion in India

text: The MTP Rules facilitate better implementation and increase access for women especially in the private health sector.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Government took cognizance of the challenges faced by women in accessing safe abortion services and in 2006 constituted an expert group to review the existing provisions of the MTP Act to propose draft amendments. A series of expert group meetings were held from 2006–2010 to identify strategies for strengthening access to safe abortion services. In 2013 a national consultation was held which was attended by a range of stakeholders further emphasized the need for amendments to the MTP Act. In 2014, MoHFW shared the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2014 in the public domain. The proposed amendments to the MTP Act were primarily based on increasing the availability of safe and legal abortion services for women in the country.


title: Abortion in India

text: Expanding provider base: In order to increase the availability of safe and legal abortion services, it has been recommended to increase the base of legal MTP providers by including medical practitioners with bachelor's degree in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani or Homeopathy. These categories of Indian System of Medicines (ISM) practitioners have Obstetrician and Gynecology (ObGyn) training and abortion services as part of their undergraduate curriculum. It has also been recommended to include nurses with a three and half-year's degree and registered with the Nursing Council of India, into the base of legal providers for abortion services. In addition, it has also been recommended that Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) posted at high case load service delivery points be included as legal providers of MMA only. These recommendations are supported by two Indian studies that conclude abortions can safely and effectively be provided by nurses and AYUSH practitioners.


title: Abortion in India

text: Provisions to increase the gestation limit for abortions: It is recommended to increase the gestational limit for seeking abortions on grounds of fetal abnormality beyond 20 weeks. This would result in making abortion available at any time during the pregnancy, if the fetus is diagnosed with severe fetal abnormalities. In addition, further to the above recommendations, it is also proposed to include increasing the gestation limit for safe abortion services for vulnerable categories of women expected to include survivors of rape and incest, single women (unmarried, divorced, or widowed) and other vulnerable women (women with disabilities) to 24 weeks. The amendments to the MTP Rules would define the details for the same.


title: Abortion in India

text: Increasing access to legal abortion services for women: The Act in its current form imposes some operational barriers that limit women's access to safe and legal abortion services. The amendments propose to:


title: Abortion in India

text: On 29 January 2020, Government of India first introduced the MTP Amendment Bill 2020, which was passed in Lok Sabha on 17 March 2020. A year later, the Bill was placed in Rajya Sabha and was passed on 16 March 2021 as the MTP Amendment Act 2021. The Amendments are as below:


title: Abortion in India

text: The new rules as per the amendments were announced by the government on October 12. Following are the revised rules as per the amendment act:


title: Abortion in India

text: Even after 50 years of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, abortion has not been decriminalised. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) makes abortion ('induced miscarriage') a criminal offence under Section 312. The MTP Act is the exception to this law. The law safeguards registered medical practitioners by laying down certain conditions under which they can terminate the pregnancy. Moreover, the MTP Act specifically states pregnant "women", hence making abortion services inaccessible to transgender persons, genderqueer and gender non-conforming, as well as others of gender diverse identity who do not identify as women.


title: Abortion in India

text: The MTP Act 1971 provides the legal framework for provision of induced abortion services in India. However, to ensure effective roll-out of services there is a need for standards, guidelines and standard operating procedures.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Government of India has taken several measures to ensure the implementation of the MTP Act and make CAC services available to women. Some of them include:


title: Abortion in India

text: MMA is a method of termination of pregnancy using a combination of drugs. These drugs have been approved for use in India by the Drug Controller General of India. MMA has been globally recognized as a method of choice for women seeking CAC services. World over, women prefer to adopt MMA while seeking safe abortion services given the confidentiality and safety it offers to them. However, the unavailability of drugs has hindered access to safe abortions across India. Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India (FRHS India) published a research report on the Availability of Medical Abortion Drugs in the Markets of Six Indian States, 2020. This report indicated that about 56% chemists reported regulatory barriers to stocking and sale of these drugs.


title: Abortion in India

text: Moreover, the conflation in the MTP Act and the DCGI approval for usage of MA drugs only exacerbates the problem further. The MTP Rules allow an approved provider to prescribe MA drugs at his/her clinic (explanation to section 5 of the MTP Rules 2003). Whereas, labelling guidelines issued by the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO, DTAB-DCC Division) dated 9 August 2019 says "Warning: Product to be used only under the supervision of a service provider and in a medical facility as specified under the MTP Act 2002 and MTP Rules 2003". The MTP Rules 2003 does not state that the product should be used only in a medical facility. The Comprehensive Abortion Care: Training and Service Delivery Guidelines 2018, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India states that MA drugs can be used by a client at home at the discretion of the provider. However, this labelling guidance is being interpreted to say that MA drugs cannot be sold in retail. The CDSCO guidance contravenes the MTP Rules, which allows prescription of MA drugs.


title: Abortion in India

text: Community health workers bridge the gap between community and the health system. ASHA's play a significant role in provision of information about health services, establishing linkage between and health facilities, providing community level health care and as an activist, building people's understanding of health rights and enables them to access their entitlements at the public health facilities to women on a range of issues including CAC. The National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) has worked closely with the MoHFW to develop training packages for Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) to enable them to provide the required information to women at the community level and facilitate linkages with the facilities. ASHA training modules developed by MoHFW and NHSRC are a key component under the National Health Mission to provide ASHAs with information on relevant topics. Information on CAC and related topics is available in three of seven modules:


title: Abortion in India

text: CAC service is an integral component of the maternal health programme under NHM. However, awareness among men and women about legality as well as availability of abortion services is very low. IDF too has conducted studies to understand the awareness about abortion legality among men and women and found that awareness and legality was low. Even though some of the people are aware of their legal rights regarding abortion, they are unaware of where they can access abortion services. This non-accessibility of abortion services is primarily on moral and political grounds. Also, women are not readily supplied with information about abortion services, nor about the option of abortion unless in emergency circumstances or cases where the baby is unhealthy.


title: Abortion in India

text: Globally, 56 million abortions take place every year. In South and Central Asia, an estimated 16 million abortions took place between 2010 and 2014, while 13 million abortions occurred in Eastern Asia alone.


title: Abortion in India

text: There is significant variance in the estimates for the number of abortions reported and the total number of estimated abortions taking place in India. According to HMIS reports, the total number of spontaneous/induced abortions that took place in India in 2016–17 was 970,436, in 2015–16 was 901781, in 2014–15 was 901,839, and in 2013–14 was 790,587. Ten women reportedly die due to unsafe abortions every day in India. The data, which is dynamic in nature, can be accessed on the Health Management Information System (HMIS) portal here.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Guttmacher Institute, New York, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai and Population Council, New Delhi conducted the first study in India to estimate the incidence of abortion. The results from this study were published in Lancet Global Health journal in December 2017 in the form of a paper titled "The incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in India, 2015". This study estimates that 15.6 million abortions took place in India in 2015. 3.4 million (22%) of these took place in health facilities, 11.5 million (73%) were done through medical methods outside facilities, and 5% are expected to have been done through other methods. The study further found the abortion rate at 47 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–49 years. The study highlights the need for strengthening public health system to provide abortion service delivery. This would include ensuring availability of trained providers, including non-allopathic providers by amending the MTP Act and expanding the provider base as well as streamlining availability of drugs and supplies. Another strategy is to streamline the process of approving private-sector facilities to provide CAC services and strengthening counseling and post-abortion contraception services in efforts to strengthen quality of care for women seeking CAC services.


title: Abortion in India

text: Prior to this study, the last available estimate for incidence of abortion at 6.4 million abortions per year in India was from the 'Abortion Assessment Project – India'. This was a multicentre study of 380 abortion facilities (of which 285 were private) carried out across six States. The study found that "on average there were four formal abortion facilities (medically qualified though not necessarily certified to carry out abortions) per 100,000 population in India and an average of 1.2 providers per facility". Out of the total formal abortion providers, 55% were gynecologists and 64% of the facilities had at least one female provider. The study further found that only 31% of the reasons for seeking abortion by women were within grounds permitted under the MTP Act, the other reasons being unwanted pregnancy, economic reasons and unwanted sex of the foetus.


title: Abortion in India

text: Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) is a "safe and effective method of abortion that involves evacuation of the uterine contents by the use of a hand-held plastic aspirator", which is "associated with less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and a reduced need for anesthetic drugs". This method of abortion is recommended by the WHO for early termination of pregnancy.


title: Abortion in India

text: Electric vacuum aspiration (EVA) is similar to the MVA insofar as it involves a suction method, but the former uses an electric pump to create suction, instead of the hand-operated pump in MVA.


title: Abortion in India

text: Medical abortion is the of termination of pregnancy by drugs. It is a "non-invasive method of ending an unwanted pregnancy that women can use in a range of settings, and often in their own homes". The two drugs approved for use in India are mifepristone and misoprostol.


title: Abortion in India

text: In India, use of these drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) for termination of pregnancy is approved up to nine weeks. This method can increase access to safe abortion services for women since it allows providers to offer CAC services where MVA or other abortion methods are not feasible.


title: Abortion in India

text: The only abortion technique available when abortion was decriminalized in India in 1971 was the dilation and curettage (D&C) method. This dated method is an invasive medical procedure which requires "the use of anesthesia for removing products of conception using a metal curette", often running the risk of hemorrhage or uterine infections. WHO and FIGO issued a joint recommendation which stated that properly equipped hospitals should abandon curettage and adopt manual/electric aspiration methods.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Maternity Benefit Act 1961 states that in case of miscarriage, a woman will be entitled to paid leave for six weeks immediately following the day of her miscarriage. Women are required to submit proof for miscarriage and willful termination of pregnancy (abortion) is excluded.


title: Abortion in India

text: Additionally, women with illness arising out of miscarriage shall, on production are also entitled to paid leave of up to one month on submission of relevant medical proofs.


title: Abortion in India

text: Almost 56% of abortions in India are under the category of unsafe. Unsafe abortions is a common recourse for most women in the country, including in the rural pockets, due to various social, economic and logistical barriers. Stigma is another dimension that prevents women from seeking abortions from approved facilities.


title: Abortion in India

text: Despite India's extensive efforts to improve maternal and reproductive health, wide geographical disparities exist between its urban and rural population. Interventions at various socio-ecologic and cultural levels, along with improved health literacy, access to improved health care and sanitation need attention when formulating and implementing policies and programs for equitable progress towards improved maternal and reproductive health.


title: Abortion in India

text: Unsafe abortion, the third leading cause of maternal deaths in the country, contributes eight per cent of all such deaths annually with 13 women dying each day. Several factors contribute to women opting for abortion outside the accredited abortion centers including:


title: Abortion in India

text: A client profile study focusing on the socio-economic profiles of women seeking abortion services, and costs of receiving abortion services at public health facilities in Madhya Pradesh, India, revealed that "57% of women of who received abortions at public health facilities were poor, followed by 21% moderate and 22% rich. More poor women sought care at primary health level facilities (58%) than secondary level facilities, and among women presenting for postabortion complications (67%) than induced abortion." Further, the study found that women admitted to spending no money to access abortion services as they are free at public facilities. Poor women, it was reported, "spend INR 64 (USD 1) while visiting primary level facilities and INR 256 (USD 4) while visiting urban hospitals, primarily for transportation and food". The study concluded that the "improved availability of safe abortion services at the primary level in Madhya Pradesh has helped meeting the need of safe abortion services among poor, which eventually will help reducing the maternal mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion".


title: Abortion in India

text: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography. The said Act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offence, with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fine.


title: Abortion in India

text: Although the Act safeguards the life and rights of children, it fails to differentiate between 'consensual sex' and offence and also does not address the grey area of 'early marriage'. Any sexual activity with persons below the set age i.e. 18 years is deemed as statutory rape. As the act fails to differentiate between offense and consent, it poses a huge barrier to access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents.


title: Abortion in India

text: Moreover, the Act has the requirement of mandatory reporting and failing to do so can lead to penalty with imprisonment or a fine. This requirement impacts adolescents' sexual and reproductive health (SRH), as it results in denial of variety of SRH services such as contraception, medical help for sexually transmitted infections, etc. Health professionals are playing safe not to get entangled in legal proceedings thereby impacting SRH services.


title: Abortion in India

text: The mandatory reporting also hinders access to safe abortion services for adolescents. The conflation between POCSO and MTP Acts result in denial of services for consensual as well as sexual assault of minors. Earlier the MTP Act required the consent of a guardian for a minor and that still remains, but due to POCSO Act, the mandatory reporting complicates the issue, and providers are wary of delivering safe abortion services to minors, even in case of assault, ensuing many to seek unsafe abortions to avoid legal hassles; and to further complicate parents exploiting this to harass children or their partners with imprisonment of 7 to 10 years.


title: Abortion in India

text: Gender-biased sex selection and safe abortion are mutually exclusive issues within the purview of Indian law. While the MTP Act provides a framework for provision of abortion services, the PC&PNDT Act regulates the misuse of diagnostic techniques for determination of sex of the foetus. Both the laws have a very clearly defined purpose, however, there is still conflation in the implementation of the two laws. Due to the stringent implementation of the PC&PNDT Act, many doctors are fear or are reluctant to provide MTP services due to the possibility of undergoing inspection and facing legal issues, thus creating great hindrance for accessing safe abortion services.


title: Abortion in India

text: By conflating the two, confusion is being created in the minds of the public against a basic right of women. Even government posters for "awareness generation" of the public with respect to sex determination have been found to use the terminology of "bhroon hatya" or "foeticide" rather than "abortion" – a term that indicates a homicidal criminal activity of taking "a life". These incorrect messaging and unawareness has serious implications on access to safe abortion services for women.


title: Abortion in India

text: For addressing this issue a group of organizations and individuals working on the issue came together to launch Pratigya Campaign for Gender Equality and Safe Abortion in 2013. The campaign provides a platform to address the issue of sex selection while protecting women's right to safe, legal abortion services in India. The campaign also created an information kit for the media on the subject.


title: Abortion in India

text: The nationwide lockdown imposed from 25 March onwards in an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, has adversely impacted contraceptive and safe abortion access. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India suspended essential contraception services a week before the lockdown and issued a guidance advising that sterilizations and intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCD) services should not be resumed until further notice. As a fallout of lockdown due to COVID-19, over 20 million couples in the country were deprived from availing contraceptives and terminating unintended pregnancies.


title: Abortion in India

text: According to a report by IDF, around 1.85 million abortions, i.e. 50 percent of the number of abortions that would have taken place in this period normally, may have been compromised as a result of restriction on travel due to the lockdown from March to June in 2020. This would have resulted in a large number of unwanted pregnancies being seen through, as well as unsafe abortions that can result in maternal deaths. A report by FRHS India estimates that the pandemic situation could lead to an additional 834,042 unsafe abortions and 1,743 maternal deaths in India.


title: Abortion in India

text: With limited mobility, increased reports of intimate partner violence, changes in living patterns of migrants, delays in accessing contraception and safe abortions, and potential changes to decisions about parenting, there is an increased need for safe abortion services in India due to the pandemic. Expanding telehealth to include information, support, and services around medical abortion can be a safe and revolutionary way to expand access to safe, legal abortion. Although according to WHO guidance, abortions in the first trimester can be safely self-managed as long as there is access to information and support, and to a facility in case of complications,40 in Indian law, abortions outside of health facilities without prescription from an RMP are currently illegal.


title: Abortion in India

text: Offering abortion through telehealth can provide clients a legal, safe, and supported experience: expanding the use of telemedicine for abortion can provide legal protection to those self-managing without a prescription, without having to meet physically with an RMP. Given the need for medical abortion in India and the already existing self-use in large numbers, the openness of clients and providers alike to use technology for health, and the established safety of abortion via telemedicine from global models, it is clear that there is appetite for abortion provision using telemedicine. Public sector provision of abortion has several challenges – lack of trained staff, equipment and supplies, and nonjudgmental care up to the legally permitted extent, to name a few.38 Telemedicine for abortion can not only help address gaps in the public sector provision of safe abortion but can also serve as a viable choice even when quality services are available since it would reduce the burden on the health infrastructure by reducing in-person visits and enhancing privacy and confidentiality needs of clients. By expanding telemedicine to include medical abortion, India can forge the way ahead for safe abortion access not just during the pandemic, but also creating an opportunity for long-lasting impact.


title: Abortion in India

text: The MTP Act allows for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. In case termination of pregnancy is immediately necessary to save the life of the woman, this limit does not apply (Section 5 of the MTP Act). There are however cases of diagnosed foetal abnormalities and cases of women who are survivors of sexual abuse who have reached out to the Court with requests for termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks. A report by the Center for Reproductive Rights analyzed some of these cases that have come to court in a comprehensive report.


title: Abortion in India

text: Another report by Pratigya Campaign assesses the role of judiciary in access to safe abortion. The report highlights the growing increase in the number of cases reaching courts for permission. While a number of orders permitting termination are based on the opinion of the medical board and the jurisprudence already laid down in previous cases, there have been some groundbreaking judgments in the past years also, which have been highlighted. This lays emphasis on the necessity for the law to keep up with the changing times. It is imperative that access to abortion becomes a legal right for pregnant women at least in the first trimester. It is necessary that the opinion of the doctor, that the woman is consulting should be considered as primary and the only one required. The setting up of medical boards which has been done by the Courts while dealing with cases of this nature has only created further obstacles for women in accessing safe and legal abortion.


title: Abortion in India

text: Media has covered many of these cases actively. Listed below are some of the significant cases with requests for late term termination that have come to the court for permission.


title: Abortion in India

text: A three-judge bench of Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal No. 5802 of 2022 made some findings on 29th September 2022. The judgement adds emphasis on to women's right to bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive choices, extended equal benefit of law to unmarried women and reduced number of hurdles like third party consent for adult women.


title: Abortion in India

text: The judgement defined "woman" as all persons who require access to safe abortion, along with cisgender women, thus including transpersons and other gender-diverse persons.


title: Abortion in India

text: The Court noted that medical practitioners commonly insist that abortion-seekers comply with extra-legal conditions, such as obtaining the consent of the abortion seeker's family, producing documentary proofs, or judicial authorisation, and that, if such conditions are not met, they frequently deny the abortion service. It found this practice "lamentable". The Court remarked that medical practitioners should refrain from imposing such requirements and that only the woman's consent was material, unless she was a minor or mentally ill. It also stated that "every pregnant woman has the intrinsic right to choose to undergo or not to undergo abortion without any consent


title: Abortion in India

text: or authorization from a third party" and that a woman is the only and "ultimate decision-maker on the question of whether she wants to undergo an abortion."


title: Abortion in India

text: On the topic of the difference between the gestation period considered legal for married and unmarried women -- 24 weeks for the former and 20 weeks for the latter -- the Court ruled that the distinction was discriminatory, artificial, unsustainable and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and that "all women are entitled to the benefit of safe and legal abortion."


title: Abortion in India

text: On the subject of pregnancies resulting from marital rape, the Court ruled that women can seek an abortion in the term of 20 to 24 weeks under the ambit of "survivors of sexual assault or rape".


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries a single organization runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exceptions of the United States, Mexico and Brazil). Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The primary mission of public broadcasting is that of public service, speaking to and engaging as a citizen. The British model has been widely accepted as a universal definition. The model embodies the following principles:


title: Public broadcasting

text: While application of certain principles may be straightforward, as in the case of accessibility, some of the principles may be poorly defined or difficult to implement. In the context of a shifting national identity, the role of public broadcasting may be unclear. Likewise, the subjective nature of good programming may raise the question of individual or public taste.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Within public broadcasting there are two different views regarding commercial activity. One is that public broadcasting is incompatible with commercial objectives. The other is that public broadcasting can and should compete in the marketplace with commercial broadcasters. This dichotomy is highlighted by the public service aspects of traditional commercial broadcasters.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public broadcasters in each jurisdiction may or may not be synonymous with government controlled broadcasters. In some countries, public broadcasters are not sanctioned by government departments and have independent means of funding, and thus enjoy editorial independence.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public broadcasters may receive their funding from an obligatory television licence fee, individual contributions, government funding or commercial sources. Public broadcasters do not rely on advertising to the same degree as commercial broadcasters, or at all; this allows public broadcasters to transmit programmes that are not commercially viable to the mass market, such as public affairs shows, radio and television documentaries, and educational programmes.


title: Public broadcasting

text: One of the principles of public broadcasting is to provide coverage of interests for which there are missing or small markets. Public broadcasting attempts to supply topics of social benefit that are otherwise not provided by commercial broadcasters. Typically, such underprovision is argued to exist when the benefits to viewers are relatively high in comparison to the benefits to advertisers from contacting viewers. This frequently is the case in undeveloped countries that normally have low benefits to advertising.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Additionally, public broadcasting may facilitate the implementation of a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture). Examples include:


title: Public broadcasting

text: Modern public broadcasting is often a mixed commercial model. For example, the CBC is funded by advertising revenue supplemented by a government subsidy to support its television service.


title: Public broadcasting

text: State presence in television had a strong history, not in the way of European style public service radio or television.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The private sector has taken an active role in the development of television in Buenos Aires. In opposition, state broadcasters tend to be federal and technical innovative, such as the


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Brazil, the two main national public broadcasters are Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC) and the Fundação Padre Anchieta (FPA). EBC was created in 2007 to manage the Brazilian federal government's radio and television stations. EBC owns broadcast the television channel TV Brasil (launched in 2007, being the merger of TVE Brasil, launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1975, and TV Nacional, launched in Brasilia in 1960), the radio stations Rádio Nacional and Rádio MEC, broadcast to Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Recife, and Tabatinga, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, a shortwave radio station based in Brasília with programming aimed to the population of the Amazon region, and Agência Brasil, a news agency. Starting in 2021, EBC expanded the coverage of its radio stations through the new FM extended band to the metropolitan areas of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Recife, important Brazilian regions which did not have EBC radio stations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: FPA is a non-profit foundation created by the government of the state of São Paulo in 1967 and includes a national educational public television network (TV Cultura, launched in 1969 in São Paulo, which is available in all Brazilian states through its 135 affiliates), two radio stations (Rádio Cultura FM and Rádio Cultura Brasil, both broadcasting to Greater São Paulo), two educational TV channels aimed at distance education (TV Educação and Univesp TV, which is available on free-to-air digital TV in São Paulo and nationally by cable and satellite), and the children's TV channel TV Rá-Tim-Bum, available nationally on pay TV.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Many Brazilian states also have regional and statewide public radio and television stations. One example is Minas Gerais, which has the EMC ("Empresa Mineira de Comunicação"), a public corporation created in 2016 modelled on EBC, formed by Rede Minas, a statewide television network and the two stations of Rádio Inconfidência in AM and FM; in the state of Pará, the state-funded foundation FUNTELPA ("Fundação Paraense de Radiodifusão") operates the public educational state-wide television network Rede Cultura do Pará (which covers the entire state of Pará, reaching many cities of Brazilian Amazon) and Rádio Cultura, a public radio station which broadcasts in FM for Belém. The state of Espírito Santo has the RTV-ES ("Rádio e Televisão Espírito Santo"), with its television channel TVE-ES ("TV Educativa do Espírito Santo") and an AM radio station ("Rádio Espírito Santo"), and in Rio Grande do Sul, the state-wide public television channel TVE-RS ("TV Educativa do Rio Grande do Sul") and the public radio station FM Cultura (which broadcasts for Porto Alegre metropolitan area) are the two public broadcasters in the state. Regional public television channels in Brazil often broadcast part of TV Brasil or TV Cultura programming among with some hours of local programming.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Since the government of Michel Temer, EBC has received several criticism from some politicians for having an alleged political bias. The current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, said in his campaign for the presidential election in 2018 that the public broadcaster is allegedly a "job hanger" (public company existing only for the purpose of securing positions for political allies) and has proposed to privatize or extinguish the public company. On April 9, 2021, the president inserted the public company into the National Privatization Program, with the intention of carrying out studies about the possibility of privatization of the public broadcaster. Some states often had problems with their public broadcasting services. In São Paulo, FPA had sometimes dealt with budget cuts, labor disputes and strikes. In Rio Grande do Sul, TVE-RS and FM Cultura were managed by the Piratini Foundation, a non-profit state foundation. However, due to the public debt crisis in the state, in 2018, the Piratini Foundation had its activities closed, and TVE-RS and FM Cultura started to be managed by the Secretariat of Communication of the state government.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Brazil also has many campus radio and community radio stations and several educational local TV channels (many of them belonging to public and private universities).


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Canada, the main public broadcaster is the national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC; ), a crown corporation – which originated as a radio network in November 1936. It is the successor to the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), which was established by the administration of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett in 1932, modeled on recommendations made in 1929 by the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting and stemming from lobbying efforts by the Canadian Radio League. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation took over operation of the CRBC's nine radio stations (which were largely concentrated in major cities across Canada, including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa). The CBC eventually expanded to television in September 1952 with the sign-on of CBFT in Montreal; CBFT was the first television station in Canada to initiate full-time broadcasts, which initially served as a primary affiliate of the French language Télévision de Radio-Canada and a secondary affiliate of the English language CBC Television service.


title: Public broadcasting

text: CBC operates two national television networks (CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé), four radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, Ici Radio-Canada Première and Ici Musique) and several cable television channels including two 24-hour news channels (CBC News Network and Ici RDI) in both of Canada's official languages – English and French – and the French-language channels Ici Explora and Ici ARTV, dedicated to science and culture respectively. CBC's national television operations and some radio operations are funded partly by advertisements, in addition to the subsidy provided by the federal government. The cable channels are commercial entities owned and operated by the CBC and do not receive any direct public funds, however, they do benefit from synergies with resources from the other CBC operations. The CBC has frequently dealt with budget cuts and labour disputes, often resulting in a debate about whether the service has the resources necessary to properly fulfill its mandate.


title: Public broadcasting

text: , all of CBC Television's terrestrial stations are owned and operated by the CBC directly. The number of privately owned CBC Television affiliates has gradually declined in recent years, as the network has moved its programming to stations opened by the corporation or has purchased certain affiliates from private broadcasting groups; budgetary issues led the CBC to choose not to launch new rebroadcast transmitters in markets where the network disaffiliated from a private station after 2006; the network dropped its remaining private affiliates in 2016, when CJDC-TV—Dawson Creek and CFTK-TV—Terrace, British Columbia defected from CBC Television that February and Lloydminster-based CKSA-DT disaffiliated in August of that year (to become affiliates of CTV Two and Global, respectively). The CBC's decision to disaffiliate from these and other privately owned stations, as well as the corporation decommissioning its network of rebroadcasters following Canada's transition to digital television in August 2011 have significantly reduced the terrestrial coverage of both CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé; the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does require cable, satellite and IPTV providers to carry CBC and Radio-Canada stations as part of their basic tier, regardless of terrestrial availability in an individual market. Of the three major French-language television networks in Canada, Ici Radio-Canada Télé is the only one that maintains terrestrial owned-and-operated stations and affiliates in all ten Canadian provinces, although it maintains only one station (Moncton, New Brunswick-based CBAFT-DT) that serves the four provinces comprising Atlantic Canada.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In recent years, the CBC has also expanded into new media ventures including the online radio service CBC Radio 3, music streaming service CBC Music, and the launch of online news services, such as CBC Hamilton, in some markets which are not directly served by their own CBC television or radio stations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In addition, several provinces operate public broadcasters; these are not CBC subentities, but distinct networks in their own right. Most of the provincial services maintain an educational programming format, differing from the primarily entertainment-based CBC/Radio-Canada operations, but more closely formatted to (and carrying many of the same programs as) the U.S.-based Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which itself is available terrestrially and – under a CRTC rule that requires Canadian cable, satellite and IPTV providers to carry affiliates of the four major U.S. commercial networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) and a PBS member station – through pay television providers in Canada via member stations located near the U.S.–Canada border. These educational public broadcasters include the English-language TVOntario (TVO) and the French-language TFO in Ontario, Télé-Québec in Quebec, and Knowledge Network in British Columbia. TVO and Télé-Québec operate through conventional transmitters and cable, while TFO and Knowledge Network are cable-only channels. Beyond these and other provincial services, Canada does not have a national public educational network.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Canada is also home to a number of former public broadcasting entities that have gone private. CTV Two Alberta, which is licensed as an educational television station in Alberta, was once owned by the Alberta government as the public broadcaster Access. In 1993, the provincial government agreed to cease to direct funding of Access after the 1994 fiscal year; the channel was sold to CHUM Limited in 1995, which initially acquired the channel through a majority-owned subsidiary, Learning and Skills Television of Alberta Limited (LSTA). To fulfill its license conditions as an educational station, it broadcasts educational and children's programming during the daytime hours, while airing entertainment programming favoured by advertisers and viewers in prime time. The service discontinued its broadcast transmitters in Calgary and Edmonton in August 2011, due to the expense of transitioning the two stations to digital, and the fact that the service had mandatory carriage on television providers serving Alberta regardless of whether it ran over-the-air transmitters. The service has since operated as part of Bell Media's CTV Two chain of stations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public radio station CKUA in Alberta was also formerly operated by Access, before being sold to the non-profit CKUA Radio Foundation which continues to operate it as a community-funded radio network. CJRT-FM in Toronto also operated as a public government-owned radio station for many years; while no longer funded by the provincial government, it still solicits most of its budget from listener and corporate donations and is permitted to air only a very small amount of commercial advertising.


title: Public broadcasting

text: City Saskatchewan originated as the Saskatchewan Communications Network, a cable-only educational and cultural public broadcaster owned by the government of Saskatchewan. SCN was sold to Bluepoint Investment Corporation in 2010, and like CTV Two Alberta did when it became privatized, incorporated a limited schedule of entertainment programming during the late afternoon and nighttime hours, while retaining educational and children's programs during the morning until mid-afternoon to fulfill its licensing conditions; Bluepoint later sold the channel to Rogers Media in 2012, expanding a relationship it began with SCN in January of that year, when Rogers began supplying entertainment programming to the channel through an affiliation agreement with its English-language broadcast network, Citytv. One television station, CFTU in Montreal, operates as an educational station owned by CANAL (), a private not-for-profit consortium of educational institutions in the province of Quebec.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Some local community stations also operate non-commercially with funding from corporate and individual donors. In addition, cable companies are required to produce a local community channel in each licensed market. Such channels have traditionally aired community talk shows, city council meetings and other locally oriented programming, although it is becoming increasingly common for them to adopt the format and branding of a local news channel.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Colombia had between 1955 and 1998 a public television system very similar to that adopted by the NPO in the Netherlands, where private television producers called ""programadoras"" were given hours on the country's two public television channels (Cadena Uno and Canal A). In 1998, when the Colombian government allowed the opening of television to the private market by granting two broadcast licenses to the "programadoras" Caracol Televisión and RCN Televisión, these television producers went into crisis, causing many to end their activities or produce content for the private television channels. Currently, Colombia has three public channels (one is operated by a private company formed by the shares of four former "programadoras") and eight public radio stations (three stations are regional broadcasters).


title: Public broadcasting

text: Chilean television was founded through universities, in an attempt to bring public television without the state having to pay directly and control content. The University of Chile (owner of the former channels 9 and 11 until 1993), the Catholic University of Chile on channels 2 and 13 until 2010, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso on channels 8 and 4. Channel 8, in Valparaíso, is the first and oldest station on Chile, transmitting since 5 October 1957. As soon as 1961 universities began transmitting advertisements between their programmes, the first of them being the Channel 9, showing a Motorola TV set. This kind of disguised advertising took the name of "Payola". This situation, added to the fact that TV was only reaching Santiago and Valparaíso, led to the creation of a state network that should serve the entire country. This network, created in 1964 and in operation since 24 October 1969, is known as "Televisión Nacional de Chile". After the military government of Augusto Pinochet, television was mostly deregulated. Thus, two new commercial channels were born: Megavisión (Channel 9, on 23 October 1990) and La Red (Channel 4, on 12 May 1991). The University of Chile's Channel 11 also was rented to a private operator on 1 October 1993 and is now known today as "Chilevisión".


title: Public broadcasting

text: Televisión Nacional, popularly known as Channel 7 due to its Santiago frequency, is governed by a seven-member board appointed by both the President and the Senate. It is meant to be independent of political pressures, although accusations of bias have been made, especially during election campaigns.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Ecuador TV is the public service channel of Ecuador, established in October 2007. The channel was established at the same time as the installation of the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly so that the sessions could be transmitted live to all the country.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Salvadoran broadcasting has a public service radio and television channel. On 1 March 1926 began the operation as the first Central American broadcasting network called "Radio Nacional de El Salvador" with a frequency of 96.9 FM MHz founded by the president of that era, Alfonso Quiñónez Molina. On 4 November 1964 the Government of El Salvador founded Televisión Educativa de El Salvador as an educational television with the channels 8 and 10. And since 1989, Channel 10 became the only public television channel in El Salvador.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Mexico, public stations are operated by municipalities, state governments and universities, there are five national public channels.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Canal Once is owned, and operated by the National Politechnical Institute. It started transmissions on 2 March 1959 as the first public broadcasting television in Mexico. The government of Mexico implemented Telesecundaria in 1968 to provide secondary education to students in rural areas through broadcast television channels, such as XHGC-TV in Mexico City. With the launching of the Morelos II satellite, Telesecundaria began transmitting on one of its analog channels in 1988; in 1994, it began broadcasting in digital format with the advent of the Solidaridad I satellite, and Edusat was established and began transmitting in Mexico, Central America and certain regions of the United States. In 1982, Canal 22 was founded and began operations eleven years later by the Ministry of Culture as part of the "RED México". In 2005 the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM in Spanish) began transmissions as the sister channel of XEUN-AM and XEUN-FM (both radio stations founded in 1959), TV UNAM which is part of the university and cultural diffusion. Canal Catorce was founded in 2012 and is operated by the Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano (SPR), an agency from the Federal Government.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In the United States, public broadcasters may receive some funding from both federal and state sources, but generally most of their financial support comes from underwriting by foundations and businesses (ranging from small shops to corporations), along with audience contributions via pledge drives. The great majority operate as private not-for-profit corporations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Early public stations were operated by state colleges and universities, and were often run as part of the schools' cooperative extension services. Stations in this era were internally funded, and did not rely on listener contributions to operate; some accepted advertising. Networks such as Iowa Public Radio, South Dakota Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Radio began under this structure. The concept of a "non-commercial, educational" station "per se" did not show up in U.S. law until 1941, when the FM band was authorized to begin normal broadcasting. Houston's KUHT was the nation's first public television station founded by Dr. John W. Meaney, and signed on the air on May 25, 1953, from the campus of the University of Houston. In rural areas, it was not uncommon for colleges to operate commercial stations instead (e.g., the University of Missouri's KOMU, an NBC-affiliated television station in Columbia). The FCC had reserved almost 250 broadcast frequencies for use as educational television stations in 1953, though by 1960, only 44 stations allocated for educational use had begun operations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 precipitated the development of the current public broadcasting system in the U.S. The legislation established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private entity that is charged with facilitating programming diversity among public broadcasters, the development and expansion of non-commercial broadcasting, and providing funding to local stations to help them create programs; the CPB receives funding earmarked by the federal government as well as through public and private donations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public television and radio in the U.S. has, from the late 1960s onward, dealt with severe criticism from conservative politicians and think-tanks (such as The Heritage Foundation), which allege that its programming has a leftist bias and there have been successful attempts to reduce – though not eliminate – funding for public television stations by some state legislatures.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The first public radio network in the United States was founded in 1949 in Berkeley, California, as station KPFA, which became and remains the flagship station for a national network called Pacifica Radio. From the beginning, the network has refused corporate funding of any kind, and has relied mainly on listener support. KPFA gave away free FM radios to build a listener base and to encourage listeners to "subscribe" (support the station directly with donations). It is the world's oldest listener-supported radio network. Since the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Pacifica has sometimes received CPB support. Pacifica runs other stations in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC. and Houston, as well as repeater stations and a large network of affiliates.


title: Public broadcasting

text: A national public radio network, National Public Radio (NPR), was created in February 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. This network replaced the Ford Foundation-backed National Educational Radio Network. Some independent local public radio stations buy their programming from distributors such as NPR; Public Radio International (PRI); American Public Media (APM); Public Radio Exchange (PRX); and Pacifica Radio, most often distributed through the Public Radio Satellite System. Cultural Native American and Mexican American music and programming are also featured regionally. NPR is colloquially though inaccurately conflated with "public radio" as a whole, when in fact "public radio" includes many organizations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In the United States, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) serves as the nation's main public television provider. When it launched in October 1970, PBS assumed many of the functions of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET). NET was shut down by the Ford Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after the network refused to stop airing documentaries on varying social issues that had alienated many of the network's affiliates. PBS would later acquire Educational Television Stations, an organization founded by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB), in 1973.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Uruguay has a strong history of public broadcasting in South America. Inaugurated in 1963, Televisión Nacional Uruguay (TNU) is now linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the country. In addition, the Radiodifusión Nacional de Uruguay is a network of radios with 4 different stations in AM and FM that cover the entire country.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Recently, under the initiative of the Venezuelan government of president Hugo Chávez, and with the sponsorship of the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua, the news and documentary network teleSUR was created with the intention to be an instrument toward the "concretizing of the Bolivarian idea" through the integration of America, and as a counterweight to what the governments that fund it consider a "distorted view of Latin American reality by privately run networks that broadcast to the region". There is an ongoing debate on whether teleSUR will be able to become a neutral and fair news channel able to counter the huge influence of global media outlets, or whether it will end up as a propaganda tool of the Venezuelan government, which owns a 51 percent share of said channel.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Bengali primary state television broadcaster is Bangladesh Television which also broadcasts worldwide through its satellite based branch, BTV World. There are also terrestrial state run TV channels: Sangsad TV owned and operated by Bengali parliament that covers the proceedings of the Parliament.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Bangladesh Betar (BB) is the country's sole state radio broadcaster. Radio transmission in the region now forming Bangladesh started in Dhaka on December 16, 1939. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Bangladesh) is responsible for the administration of all government TV channels and Radio.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Hong Kong, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the sole public service broadcaster. Although being a government department under the administrative hierarchy, it enjoys editorial independence. It operates seven radio channels, and produces television programmes and broadcast on commercial television channels, as these channels are required by law to provide timeslots for RTHK television programmes. RTHK would be assigned a digital terrestrial television channel during 2013 to 2015.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In India, Prasar Bharati is India's public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India and comprises the Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was established on 23 November 1997, following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until 15 September 1997. Though a public broadcaster, it airs commercial advertisements.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Indonesia, there are three types of public broadcaster. The first two are national-scale broadcasters: Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) and Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI). RRI currently operates four radio networks carried by some or all of more than 90 local stations, one of them is a national programming network. TVRI operates three national television channels, plus more than 32 regional stations.


title: Public broadcasting

text: There are also independent local public broadcasters which founded by local government in several cities or regencies. They are obligated to network with either RRI or TVRI, depending on the medium, though they are not owned and operated by the two.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Japan, the main public broadcaster is the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). The broadcaster was set up in 1926 and was modelled on the British Broadcasting Company, the precursor to the British Broadcasting Corporation created in 1927. Much like the BBC, NHK is funded by a "receiving fee" from every Japanese household, with no commercial advertising and the maintenance of a position of strict political impartiality. However, rampant non-payment by a large amount of households has led the receiving fee to become something of a political issue. NHK runs two national terrestrial TV stations (NHK General and NHK Educational) and two satellite only services (NHK BS1 and NHK BS Premium services). NHK also runs 3 national radio services and a number of international radio and television services, akin to the BBC World Service. NHK has also been an innovator in television, developing the world's first high-definition television technology in 1964 and launching high definition services in Japan in 1981.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Macau, Teledifusão de Macau TDM is the public service broadcasting company. The firm was established in January 1982 and was modelled on Rádio e Televisão de Portugal RTP. TDM has two independent editorial arms: the Chinese news channel and the Portuguese news channel, each of which may have different information sources, points of view, and priorities of news. TDM runs both television and radio services.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The public broadcaster in Malaysia is the state-owned Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and TV Alhijrah. RTM was previously funded publicly through money obtained from television licensing, however it is currently state-subsidised, as television licences have been abolished.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Pakistan, the public broadcasters are the state-owned Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), also known as Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television. In the past Radio Pakistan was partly funded through money obtained from License fees. In 1999, the Nawaz Sharif government abolished license fees for Radio Pakistan and also abolished its tax exempt status protected under PBC Act 1973. The license fees for Pakistan Television continued. The license fees collection for PTV was given to WAPDA during Musharraf government. Currently WAPDA collects Rs. 35 per house hold on electricity bills as PTV license fees. Television Broadcasting started in Pakistan with a small pilot TV Station established at Lahore Radio from where transmission was first beamed in black-and-white with effect from 26 November 1964. Television centres were established in Dhaka, Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad in 1967 and in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974. PTV has various channels transmitting throughout the world including PTV National, PTV World, PTV 2, PTV Global, PTV Bolan etc. Radio Pakistan has stations covering all the major cities, it covers 80% of the country serving 95.5 Million listeners. It has world service in eleven languages daily.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Philippines' primary state television broadcaster is People's Television Network (PTV). Created in 1974 as Government Television (GTV), PTV is no longer state subsidised except for a one-time equity funding for capital outlay in 1992. Aside from PTV, the other public broadcaster is the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), which the government has already put up for sale. The government no longer holds a controlling interest in the former state broadcaster, Radio Philippines Network (RPN).


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) is the country's sole state radio broadcaster. Established in 1933 as KZFM by the US colonial Insular Government, the radio station was passed to the Philippine government after the country became independent in 1946. Currently, PBS broadcasts its flagship network Radyo Pilipinas (formerly Radyo ng Bayan) through its 32 stations and selected affiliates nationwide.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The government is currently planning to propose the creation of a law that will merge and integrate PTV and PBS into a single entity, to be called the People's Broadcasting Corporation (PBC).


title: Public broadcasting

text: South Korea's representative public broadcasting television network is meant to be Korean Broadcasting System, or KBS. Originally a government-controlled channel, it is now an independent broadcasting system. KBS began broadcasting radio in 1947 and opened up to television industry in 1961, and officially founded its own identity by 1973. Another public broadcasting channel is the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, or MBC. Known to be the second channel of the country, it also shares the roles of being national television with the KBS.


title: Public broadcasting

text: South Korea also has another public broadcasting channel called Educational Broadcasting System, or EBS. Originally considered to be an extension channel of the KBS, it was spun-off as an educational channel but retained its public broadcasting tasks. KBS and EBS mainly are funded by the commercials that they provide in their channels, but due to growing competitions, this is becoming an issue for them as well.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public Television Service, also called Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation, is the first independent public broadcasting institution in Taiwan, which broadcasts the Public Television Service Taiwan. Since its creation in 1998, PTS has produced several critically acclaimed dramatic programmes and mini-series despite experiencing funding difficulties. PTS is bound up in speaking for the minorities, including the promotion of Hakka Chinese and Formosan-language programming, an effort that has contributed much to the "Taiwanization" movement.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Israel, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority was the country's main public broadcasting service until 2017.


title: Public broadcasting

text: As of May 15, 2017, it was replaced by KAN (Hebrew for "here"), the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Israeli Defense Forces owns its own broadcasting network known as IDF Waves which includes 2 radio stations:


title: Public broadcasting

text: In addition, the ministry of education owns the Israeli Educational Television, known as Hinuchit, the first Israeli television channel. It was created by the Rothschild fund to aid the ministry's work in teaching children from kindergarten to high school and to promote the television's use in Israel at a time the government considered the device a "cultural decadence". It is funded and operated by the ministry, and since the 1980s it has widened its orientation to adults as well as children. In August 2018, the Educational Television was shut down and replaced by KAN Hinuchit.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Qatar's public service broadcasting includes Qatar Media Corporation (which succeeded Qatar General Broadcasting and Television Corporation in 2009 and also inherited its assets) which predominantly focuses on local affairs, and Al Jazeera, an international public broadcasting private foundation which appeals to a pan-Arab audience in its Standard Arabic broadcasting and to miscellaneous scope of audiences in some other languages, including the pan-global English channel.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In most countries in Europe, public broadcasters are funded through a mix of advertising and public finance, either through a license fee or directly from the government.


title: Public broadcasting

text: ORF ("Österreichischer Rundfunk") is the public broadcaster in Austria. Despite the fact that private broadcasting companies were allowed in Austria in the late 1990s, ORF is still "the" key player in the field. It has three nationwide radio channels (Ö1, Ö3, FM4), nine regional ones (one for each Bundesland). Its TV portfolio includes two general interest channels (ORF 1 and ORF 2), one cultural-instructional channel (ORF III), one Eurovision-wide version of ORF 2 and a sports channel (ORF Sport +). ORF also takes part in the German-language satellite TV network 3sat.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Originally named INR—"Institut national belge de radiodiffusion" ()—the state-owned broadcasting organization was established by law on 18 June 1930. Television broadcasting from Brussels began in 1953, with two hours of programming each day. In 1960 the INR was subsumed into RTB () and BRT ().


title: Public broadcasting

text: On 1 October 1945 INR-NIR began to broadcast some programmes in German. In 1961 RTB-BRT began a German-language radio channel, broadcasting from Liège.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In 1977, following Belgian federalization and the establishment of separate language communities, the French-language section of RTB-BRT became RTBF (), German-language section became BRF () and Dutch-language stays BRT.


title: Public broadcasting

text: There are two public media in Bulgaria - the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). Bulgarian National Television was founded in 1959 and the Bulgarian National Radio was founded in 1935. BNT broadcasts 4 national programs (BNT 1, BNT 2, BNT HD, BNT World). The BNR broadcasts 2 national programs (Horizont and Hristo Botev Program), 9 regional programs and Internet Radio Binar.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Croatian Radiotelevision (, "HRT") is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. , 70% of HRT's funding comes from broadcast user fees with each house in Croatia required to pay 79 HRK, kuna, per month for a single television (radio device, computer or smartphone), with the remainder being made up from advertising.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Czech Television () and Czech Radio () are public broadcasters formed in 1992 to take over the Czech operations of the state-ran Czechoslovak Television and Czechoslovak Radio, respectively. Until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, both broadcasters coexisted with their federal Czechoslovak counterparts, after which they also took over the channels previously occupied by the common federal broadcasting.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Czech Television broadcasts from three studios in Prague, Brno and Ostrava and operates several TV channels: ČT1, ČT2, ČT3, ČT24, ČT sport, and ČT art. Czech television is funded through a monthly fee of 135 CZK which every household that owns a TV or a radio has to pay. Since October 2011 advertising on Czech TV is restricted to ČT 2 and ČT sport.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Czech Radio broadcasts four nationwide stations Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava and Plus, several regional and topical digital stations. It also provides an international service Radio Prague International, which broadcasts abroad in six languages. Czech Radio is funded through a monthly fee of 45 CZK.


title: Public broadcasting

text: DR is the national public service broadcaster. The organisation was founded in 1925, on principles similar to those of the BBC in the United Kingdom. DR runs six nationwide television channels and eight radio channels. Financing comes primarily from a yearly licence fee, that everyone who owns either a television set, a computer or other devices that can access the internet, has to pay. A part of collected fees is also used to finance the network of regional public service stations operating under the brand of TV 2. TV 2 itself, however, is a commercial government-owned television funded by subscriptions and advertising, with particular public service duties such as allowing regional stations to air their newscasts within specific timeslots of the main TV 2 channel.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Kringvarp Føroya is the organisation in Faroe Islands with public service obligations. Formed in 1957 as a radio broadcaster Útvarp Føroya. Merged with Sjónvarp Føroya TV station on 1 January 2007 to form Kringvarp Føroya. Funded by licence fees.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) organises the public radio and television stations of Estonia. Eesti Televisioon (ETV), the public television station, made its first broadcast in 1955, and together with its sister channel ETV2 has about 20% audience share.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Yle - The Finnish Broadcasting Company, (pronounced /yle/) or Yleisradio (in Finnish) and Rundradion (in Swedish) is Finland's national public service media company. Founded in 1926, it is a public limited company majority owned by the Finnish state, employing around 2,800 people. Yle is funded by a special Yle tax. Yle has four television channels, three television channel slots, six nationwide radio channels and three radio services.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Yle TV1 is the most viewed TV channel in Finland and Yle Radio Suomi the most popular radio channel. Yle was the first of the Nordic public broadcasters to implement the Eurovision's portability regulation on its online media service Yle Areena. Yle Areena is the most used streaming service in Finland, beating even Netflix that is the most popular streaming service everywhere else.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Yle focuses highly on developing its digital services. In 2016 a Reuters Institute study of European public service companies show that Yle and BBC are the public service pioneers in digital development and performing the best while introducing innovative digital services in their news operations, developing mobile services and promoting the development of new digital approaches. Yle's Voitto robot based on machine learning is the first personal news assistant in the world to give recommendations directly on the lock screen in the Yle NewsWatch application.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In 1949 Radiodiffusion-télévision française (RTF – French television and radio broadcasting) was created to take over from the earlier Radiodiffusion française responsibility for the operation of the country's three public radio networks and the introduction of a public television service. A fourth radio network was added in 1954 and a second television channel in 1963.


title: Public broadcasting

text: RTF was transformed into the Office de radiodiffusion télévision française (ORTF), a more independent structure, in 1964. ORTF oversaw the introduction of a third television channel in 1972, two years before the dissolution of the structure in 1974. Between this date and 2000, each channel had its own direction structure. The first channel (TF1) was sold to the private sector in 1987. (At the time, the channel with the largest audience was the other public channel Antenne 2).


title: Public broadcasting

text: In 1986 a French/German public channel was created, ARTE, originally broadcast on cable and satellite. Later, the fall of the private channel La Cinq freed some frequencies that it had used each day after 19.00. In 1994 a new public channel, La cinquième was created to use the remaining time on the same frequencies. La cinquième and ARTE subsequently shared the same channels with the exception of satellite, cable, and internet channels where both could be broadcast all day long. In 2000 all the public channels were united into one structure, France Télévisions.


title: Public broadcasting

text: After World War II, when regional broadcasters had been merged into one national network by the Nazis to create a powerful means of propaganda, the Allies insisted on a de-centralised, independent structure for German public broadcasting and created regional public broadcasting agencies that, by and large, still exist today.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In addition to these nine regional radio and TV broadcasters, which cooperate within ARD, a second national television service—actually called Second German Television (, ZDF)—was later created in 1961 and a national radio service with two networks (Deutschlandradio) emerged from the remains of Cold War propaganda stations in 1994. All services are mainly financed through licence fees paid by every household and are governed by councils of representatives of the "societally relevant groups". Public TV and radio stations spend about 60% of the ≈10bn € spent altogether for broadcasting in Germany per year, making it the most well funded public broadcasting system in the world.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The "Hans-Bredow-Institut", or Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research at the University of Hamburg (HBI) is an independent non-profit foundation with the mission on media research on public communication, particularly for radio and television broadcasting (including public service media providers) and other electronic media, in an interdisciplinary fashion.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Germany foreign public broadcasters also exist. These are AFN for US-military staff in Germany, BFBS for British military staff, Voice of Russia, RFE and Radio Liberty.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Eventually, Arte is a French/German cultural TV channel operated jointly by France Télévisions, ZDF and ARD. It is a binational channel broadcast in both countries.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (Greek: Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση ή ERT) is the state-owned public broadcaster in Greece. It broadcasts five television channels: ERT1, ERT2, ERT3 (located in Thessaloniki city), ERT SPORTS HD are the terrestrial broadcast channels, as well as ERT WORLD, a satellite channel focused to the Greek diaspora. ERT is broadcasting also five national (ERA 1, ERA 2, ERA 3, Kosmos, ERA Sport), and 21 local radio stations (two of them located in Thessaloniki, the second major city of Greece). All national television and radio stations are broadcast through ERT digital multiplexes across the country and through satellite, via the two digital platforms (NOVA and Cosmote).


title: Public broadcasting

text: Also, operates a web TV service with a live transmition of all the terrestrial and satellite channels as well as 4 independent OTT channels (ERT PLAY 1, 2, 3 and 4) that carries mostly sport events and older archived shows.


title: Public broadcasting

text: ERT operates 8 television studios in three buildings in Athens: five of them in the headquarters called "Radiomegaro" ("Ραδιομέγαρο" that means "radio palace") located in Agia Paraskevi area, two of them in Katehaki str. facility and one small one in the center of Athens near the Parliament, in the Mourouzi str. facility. In Thessaloniki, ERT operates two television studios in the L. Stratou avenue and another three studios in smaller cities (Heraclion, Patras and Corfu) that can be used only for television correspondences.


title: Public broadcasting

text: ERT operates several radio studios in "Radiomegaro", in Thessaloniki (located at Aggelaki str., besides International Exhibition facility) and in 19 Greek cities, as well as a national news web site.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Magyar Televízió (MTV) and Magyar Rádió (MR, also known internationally as Radio Budapest) is a nationwide public broadcasting organization in Hungary. Headquartered in Budapest, it is the oldest broadcaster in Hungary and airs four TV channels (M1 HD, M2 HD, M4 Sport and M5), and six Radio networks (Kossuth Rádió, Petőfi Rádió, Bartók Rádió, Dankó Rádió, Nemzetiségi Adások and


title: Public broadcasting

text: In May 2019, M3 ceases broadcasting as it was replaced by an online TV channel, "m3.hu" (Link: https://www.m3.hu), much like BBC Three in the UK which ceased broadcasting five years earlier than M3, but pretty much the same way.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Both MTV And MR is managed and primarily funded by the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (, abbreviated MTVA). This government organization, formed in 2011, also manages the public service broadcasters Duna Televízió as well as the Hungarian news agency Magyar Távirati Iroda.


title: Public broadcasting

text: On 1 July 2015, Magyar Rádió and Magyar Televízió were among several public media organizations managed by the MTVA that were merged into a single organization called Duna Media Service ().<ref name="MTVA/Duna Media Service Announcement"></ref> This organization is the legal successor to Magyar Rádió and Magyar Televízió and is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Like some countries, Hungary has another public broadcaster called Duna (which was named after a river), which airs two TV channels (Duna TV (as of 2015, It broadcasts former M1 programmes as M1 became the 24-hour News Channel), Duna World (which acts as its sister broadcaster's international channel)), and only one radio network called Duna Világrádió.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) ("The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service") is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organisation. RÚV began radio broadcasting in 1930 and its first television transmissions were made in 1966. In both cases coverage quickly reached nearly every household in Iceland. RÚV is funded by a television licence fee collected from every income taxpayer, as well as advertising revenue. RÚV has been a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union since 1956.


title: Public broadcasting

text: RÚV—which by the terms of its charter is obliged to "promote the Icelandic language, Icelandic history, and Iceland's cultural heritage" and "honour basic democratic rules, human rights, and the freedom of speech and opinion"—carries a substantial amount of arts, media, and current affairs programming, in addition to which it also supplies general entertainment in the form of feature films and such internationally popular television drama series as "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives". RÚV's lineup also includes sports coverage, documentaries, domestically produced entertainment shows, and children's programming.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Ireland there are two state owned public service broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4. RTÉ was established in 1960 with the merger of (1926) and (1960). TG4 was formed as a subsidiary of RTÉ in 1996 as (TnaG), it was renamed TG4 in 1999, and was made independent of RTÉ in 2007.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Both Irish public service broadcasters receive part of the licence fee, with RTÉ taking the lion's share of the funding. Advertising makes up 50% of RTÉ's income and just 6% of TG4's income. 7% of the licence fee is provided to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland since 2006. Up to 2006 the licence fee was given entirely to RTÉ.


title: Public broadcasting

text: RTÉ offers a range of free to air services on television; RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, RTÉjr, and RTÉ News Now. On radio; RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ Lyric FM, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, as well as a number of channels on DAB.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Sound and Vision Fund is operated by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, this fund receives 7% of the licence fee. The fund is used to assist broadcasters to commission public service broadcast programming. It is open to all independent producers provided they the backing of a free-to-air or community broadcaster, such as Virgin Media, Today FM, BBC Northern Ireland, RTÉ, Channel 4, UTV, etc. Pay TV broadcaster Setanta Sports have also received funding for programming through the Fund provided they make that programming available on a free-to-view basis.


title: Public broadcasting

text: TG4 is an independent Irish language public service broadcaster that is funded by government subsidy, part of the licence fee, and through advertising revenue.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Italian national broadcasting company is RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana, founded as URI in 1924. RAI transmits thirteen channels: Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3, Rai 4, Rai 5, Rai News 24, Rai Premium, Rai Movie, Rai Sport, Rai Storia, Rai Gulp, Rai Yoyo, Rai Scuola (all available also in high definition). RAI also broadcasts via satellite and is involved in radio, publishing and cinema. RAI has the largest audience share (45%) of any Italian television network. Proceeds derive from a periodical standing charge (90 euros for each household in 2017) and from advertising. The main competitors of RAI are Mediaset, the biggest national private broadcaster, divided in twelve channels (two of which are both SD and HD), La7 and La7d, owned by Cairo Editore; other competitors are Sky Italia (with three FTA channels) and Discovery Italia (with seven FTA channels).


title: Public broadcasting

text: Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) is the national broadcaster of Lithuania. It was founded in 1926 as radio broadcaster, and opened a television broadcasting subdivision in 1957. LRT broadcasts three radio stations (LRT Radijas, LRT Klasika and LRT Opus), and three TV channels (LRT televizija, LRT Plius and LRT Lituanica).


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) is the national broadcaster of Malta. It operates three television services (TVM, TVM2, and Parliament TV) and three radio services (Radju Malta, Radju Malta 2, and Magic Malta).


title: Public broadcasting

text: Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) is the public funded radio-TV broadcaster in Moldova. It owns the TV channels Moldova 1 and TVMI, and the radio channels Radio Moldova and Radio Moldova Internaţional.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The Netherlands uses a rather unusual system of public broadcasting. Public-broadcasting associations are allocated money and time to broadcast their programmes on the publicly owned television and radio channels, collectively known under the NPO name. The time and money is allocated in proportion to their membership numbers. The system is intended to reflect the diversity of all the groups composing the nation.


title: Public broadcasting

text: National public broadcasters in The Nordic countries were modeled after the BBC and established a decade later: Radioordningen (now DR) in Denmark, Kringkastingselskapet (now NRK) in Norway, and Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television) in Sweden (all in 1925). In 1926 Yleisradio (Swedish: Rundradion) now Yle was founded in Finland. All four are funded from television licence fees costing (in 2007) around () per household per year.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Public broadcasters include Telewizja Polska (TVP) television and Polskie Radio, however TVP in recent years has been considered to be state media by various press freedom organisations due its strong bias in favour of the ruling party, with Reporters Without Borders calling it a government mouthpiece. TVP operates three main channels: TVP 1, TVP 2 and TVP 3. It also broadcasts several digital channels (including TVP 1, TVP1 HD, TVP 2, TVP2 HD, TVP Info, TVP Kultura, TVP Historia, TVP HD, TVP Polonia, TVP Sport, TVP Seriale) via satellite and digital terrestrial television system, and 16 regional affiliates (known as TVP Regionalna, regional channels cooperate when creating most of materials). TVP also runs services with news, a video streaming (video on demand) service as well as live streaming of all its channels. Polskie Radio operates four nationwide radio channels (which are also available via the broadcaster's website). There are also 17 state-owned radio stations broadcasting in particular regions. TVP and Polish Radio are funded from several sources: state funding, advertising, obligatory tax on all TV and radio receivers, and money from authors/copyright associations. The public broadcasters offer a mix of commercial shows and programmes they are, by law, required to broadcast (i.e., non-commercial, niche programmes; programmes for children; programmes promoting different points of view and diversity; programmes for different religious and national groups; live coverage of the parliament's session on its dedicated channel: TVP Parlament; etc.). It has to be politically neutral, although in the past there have been cases of political pressure on TVP and Polskie Radio from the governing party. Recently, a new law has been passed by the ruling Law & Justice party, that in public perception allowed the party to take a much larger control over the media that has been possible before. The party states this law to be the first step to a complete public media overdo. Many worry no such improvements are actually coming and that these recent laws are only another step in taking control over the whole country by the Law & Justice party.


title: Public broadcasting

text: There is an ongoing debate in Poland about the semi-commercial nature of TVP and PR. Many people fear that making them into totally non-commercial broadcasters would result in the licence fee payable by households being increased, and fewer people being interested in programmes they offer; others say that TVP in particular is too profit-driven and should concentrate on programming that benefits the society.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Portugal, the national public broadcaster is Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), which in 1957 began regular broadcasts of its first channel, now RTP1. In 1968 its second channel appeared, then called ""segundo programa"", now RTP2. In the 1970s, TV arrived in the Portuguese islands of Madeira and the Azores, with the creation of two regional channels: RTP Madeira in 1972 and RTP Açores in 1976.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Until the 1990s the state had a monopoly on TV broadcasting, so RTP1 and RTP2 were the only Portuguese channels, both with similar generalist programmes. In 1990, RTP1 was renamed "Canal 1", and in 1992 RTP2 was renamed "TV2". With the creation of the two private channels, SIC in 1992 and Televisão Independente in 1993, the philosophy of the public service changed: in 1995, "TV2" was again renamed RTP2 and became an alternative channel dedicated to culture, science, arts, documentaries, sports (except football), minorities and children. Since then, RTP2 has carried no advertising. Canal 1, renamed back RTP1 also in 1995, remained the commercial channel of RTP group, focused on entertainment, information and major sport competitions. In 2004, after a great restructuring period, RTP started its current branding. That year the two thematic channels of the group were also created—RTPN, a 24 hour-news channel which became RTP Informação in 2011 and RTP3 in 2015; and RTP Memória, dedicated to classic RTP programming. In 2014 the headquarters of RTP2 were transferred from Lisbon to Porto.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The group also has two international channels: RTP Internacional, founded in 1992 and dedicated to Eurovision, Asia and Americas, and RTP África, founded in 1998 focused on Africa, mainly the CPLP countries of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The RTP group is financed by the advertising revenues from RTP1, RTP3, RTP Memória, RTP África, and RTP Internacional, and also by the "taxa de contribuição audiovisual" (broadcasting contribution tax), which is incorporated in electricity bills. Funding from the government budget ceased in 2014, during the Portuguese financial crisis.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Romanian Television (TVR) is the national public TV broadcaster in Romania. It operates five channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVRi, and TVR HD, along with six regional studios in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara, Craiova, and Târgu Mureș.


title: Public broadcasting

text: The public radio broadcaster is Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company (Radio Romania). It operates FM and AM, and internet national, regional, and local radio channels. The regional and local stations are branded as Radio România Regional. Broadcasting in 12 languages, Radio Romania International is the company's international radio station.


title: Public broadcasting

text: TVR and Radio Romania are funded through a hybrid financing system, drawing from the state budget, a special tax (incorporated in electricity bills), and advertising too.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) is the national public broadcaster in Serbia. It operates a total of five television channels (RTS1, RTS2, RTS Digital, RTS HD and RTS SAT) and five radio stations (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, Radio Belgrade 202, and Stereorama). RTS is primarily funded through public television licence fees bundled with electricity bills paid monthly, as well as advertising.


title: Public broadcasting

text: Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) is the national public broadcaster in Slovakia, with headquarters in Bratislava. This organisation was created in 2011 by merger of Slovak Television and Slovak Radio. RTVS broadcasts two television channels (STV1, STV2), five FM radio stations (Rádio Slovensko, Rádio Devín, Rádio Regina, Rádio_FM and Rádio Patria), one satellite radio channel (Radio Slovakia International) and three digital only radio stations (Rádio Klasika, Rádio Litera and Rádio Junior). RTVS is funded through monthly fee of €4.64, which every household with electricity connection must pay. The director of RTVS is Václav Mika. RTVS is a full member of European broadcasting union.


title: Public broadcasting

text: In Spain, being a highly decentralized country, two public broadcasting systems coexist: a national state-owned broadcasting corporation, Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), that can be tuned all around Spain, and many autonomic broadcasting corporations, owned by their respective autonomous community, which only broadcast within its own territory.


title: Public broadcasting

text: RTVE provides multi-station radio and television services with its divisions Radio Nacional de España (RNE) and Televisión Española (TVE), as well as online and streaming services. RNE was founded in 1937 and broadcasts five radio stations: Radio Nacional since 1937, Radio Clásica since 1965, Radio 3 since 1979, Ràdio 4 since 1976, Radio 5 since 1989 and its international worldwide service Radio Exterior since 1942. TVE was founded in 1956 and broadcasts different television channels: La 1 ("La Primera" or "La uno") since 1956, that is a generalist channel; La 2 ("La dos") since 1966, that offers cultural programming; Teledeporte sports channel since 1994; 24 Horas news channel since 1997; Clan children's channel since 2005; and its international worldwide service TVE Internacional since 1989. RTVE Play is its over-the-top media service, and replaced in 2021 its previous online video on demand service created in 2008. Although almost all the programming is the same for all of Spain, RTVE has territorial centers in every autonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local programming in regional variations in each of them. For most of its history, RNE and TVE were funded both from public sources and private advertising; however, from September 2009, RTVE have been funded by a mixture of public tax revenue and funds collected from Spain's private television stations, thus removing advertising from its channels. A TV licence fee has been suggested, but with little popular success.