As of 2000, there were 3.8 million main line and 4.3 million mobile cellular phones in use. Privatization and modernization of the telecommunication system was advancing steadily. In 1995 the waiting time for new telephone service was from five to ten years, but after a Kc130 billion investment for a system upgrade, waiting time was down to only about two months by 2000. Also in 2000, there were 31 AM and 304 FM radio stations and 150 television stations. The Czech Republic had 803 radios and 508 television sets per 1,000 people the same year. There were about 93 cable subscribers for every 1,000 people. There were about 122 personal computers per 1,000 people and more than 300 Internet service providers serving about 1.1 million people.
The following table lists major newspapers, their publishers, and estimated 2002 circulations:
PUBLISHER | CIRCULATION | |
Blesk | NA | 420,000 |
Hospodarske Noviny | NA | 130,000 |
Mladá Fronta | Socialist Union of Youth | 350,000 |
Moravskoslezsky Den | NA | 130,000 |
Obansky Denikof | NA | 109,000 |
Práce | Revolutionary Trade Union Movement | 220,600 |
Rudé Právo | Communist Party | 350,000 |
Svobodné Slovo | Socialist Party | 230,000 |
Svoboda | NA | 100,000 |
Vecernik Praha | NA | 130,000 |
Formerly, the Communist Party and the government controlled all publishing. Formal censorship, via the government's Office for Press and Information, was lifted for three months during the Prague Spring of 1968, but prevailed after that time until the late 1980s. As of 1999, the government was said to fully uphold the legally provided freedoms of free speech and a free press.
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