Breakdown of Programmes that Received Public Service Broadcast Funds

Mr Ganesh Rajaram asked the Minister for Communications and Information in the last financial year, what is the amount of Public Service Broadcast funds given to Mediacorp to finance the various programmes broken down into titles and genres, regardless of whether they are produced in-house or are farmed out to independent production companies.

I thank Mr Ganesh Rajaram for his question on Public Service Broadcast (PSB) funds.

Total PSB funding in FY16 was around $250 million. This supported the development of capabilities, channels and content, including about 3,000 hours of locally produced PSB TV programmes to cater to the diverse viewing needs of Singaporeans.

For content production, about 60% of PSB programme funding went towards current affairs, info-educational programmes and documentaries. The remaining 40% funded entertainment programmes, such as local dramas, tele-movies and variety shows. PSB funding was also used to produce local content on digital platforms like Toggle, including shows like "Yes Mdm" and "Run Rachael Run", to cater to growing online media consumption.