Indonesian TV ambitions face bumpy road ahead<\/p>\n
Aug. 24 is jointly celebrated as the anniversary of three
\ntelevision stations -- state owned TVRI and two private networks
\nRCTI and SCTV. Soon, there will be more TV stations, which will
\nheighten competition. How tough will the competition be if the
\nnew TV stations are still struggling to get their signals up
\nbefore the Oct. 25 deadline? Is it a bumpy or smooth ride ahead?
\nThe Jakarta Post's contributor Luas Samudera looks into the
\nissues.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): When licenses were given to five companies to
\nrun terrestrial stations two years ago, excited officials
\npredicted tight competition in the industry. Fast forward to 2001
\nand we are still not quite there yet.<\/p>\n
Only Metro-TV has materialized the plan, four others Trans-TV,
\nLaTV, TV7 and Global TV are still struggling to survive. But they
\nare scrambling to get their signals up before the Oct. 25
\ndeadline, otherwise they will have their broadcast permit
\nscrapped and their Rp 1 billion (US$117,100) guarantee forfeited.<\/p>\n
This year's rupiah fluctuation against the dollar may well be
\nbitterly remembered among four future TV stations. Fluctuation
\nhas forced them to launch the stations on the same date, Oct. 25.<\/p>\n
It does not take a genius to see that in future the stations
\nwill conduct a head-to-head campaign on their anniversary date.
\nIt happens every single year, like this week's battle between
\nRCTI and SCTV, which both share the same launching date, Aug. 24.<\/p>\n
And for an industry completely dependent on advertising,
\nhaving four TV channels celebrating their anniversary at the same
\ntime in the future is really not good news. Advertisers will
\nfinally have the last word to decide on which station they want
\nto advertise and on which program. Certainly, they are not going
\nto place their ads on head-on programs.<\/p>\n
With the dollar standing above their estimate rate of Rp
\n10,000 earlier this year, it seems new stations have no other
\nchoice but to meet the deadline no matter what.<\/p>\n
The much-celebrated Trans-TV, financially backed by Bank Mega
\nand supported by high flying names in the industry like Ishadi
\nSK, Alex Kumara and Riza Primadi, has delayed its launching date
\nthree times already.<\/p>\n
"Well, the business is undergoing such a difficult time at the
\nmoment that we have to face business reality. If we insisted to
\ngo ahead with our initial plan to go on air last June, we would
\nhave lost over 50 billion rupiah," Trans-TV CEO Ishadi said.<\/p>\n
Business reality has also caused Trans-TV to alter it plans
\nfrom airing commercially 20 hours a day on their launch date to
\nonly two hours of non-commercial broadcasting per day in four
\ncities -- Jakarta, Semarang, Bandung and Surabaya -- instead of
\nseven.<\/p>\n
Transmission facilities in other cities such as Surakarta,
\nYogyakarta and Medan, will hopefully be ready in late October or
\nNovember. Thanks to a last-minute loan from state bank Bank
\nMandiri worth Rp 300 billion, it has now been given a boost to
\nmeet the deadline. Still, its 900-meter-square studio, claimed to
\nbe the largest in Indonesia, may not be ready by then.<\/p>\n
A similar story goes for LaTV. Under the same pressure, it
\nwill cut its plan for broadcasting for seven hours to just one
\nhour of promo-only programming.<\/p>\n
"Commercial operations of seven hours a day are expected to
\nstart in December," Managing Director Chrys Kelana said. Just
\nlike TransTV, LaTV also plans to broadcast in seven cities. Five
\nof the seven cities were covered by research firm AC Nielsen for
\nrating and share data obtaining purposes. On its initial
\nbroadcast, it may only reach four cities: Jakarta, Semarang,
\nYogyakarta and Bandung.<\/p>\n
A source at TV7, which was acquired by arguably the largest
\nmedia group Gramedia, said the station expects to air colorbars
\nand technical patterns only in October to meet the government's
\ndeadline. Trial broadcasts are expected to begin in November,
\nbefore it launches its commercial broadcasts in February next
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Bleak future<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Global-TV's future remains bleak. Taken over by
\nBimantara from a business group close to former president Habibie
\nearlier this year, Global's fate will be decided during
\nBimantara's extraordinary shareholders' meeting later this month.<\/p>\n
As a sister company to RCTI, Global-TV is expected to find no
\ntechnical difficulty in launching its service. It can lease
\nRCTI's facilities, said project manager Nenny Soemawinata, former
\nRCTI operations director. In terms of programming, a source said
\nGlobal-TV will be aimed at a young audience.<\/p>\n
Currency devaluation is apparently not the only threat. A
\nbigger question is whether advertising revenues can support these
\nnew players against the incumbents: RCTI, SCTV, Indosiar, TPI and
\nAnteve.<\/p>\n
Also digging into this advertising pie are cable and satellite
\ntelevisions such as Kabelvision and Indovision and regional
\ntelevision stations like Riau TV in Pekanbaru, Surabaya-based
\nJawapos TV (JTV), and Amuntai TV in Hulu Sungai Utara, South
\nKalimantan.<\/p>\n
JTV expects to be launched on national Heroes Day Nov.10 to
\ncommemorate the patriotic war against the Dutch in 1945 in
\nSurabaya, which was later locally known as the city of heroes. It
\nwill cater for people in Surabaya and six of its surrounding
\ntowns.<\/p>\n
Certainly, the new terrestrial stations will face a bumpy road
\nahead.<\/p>\n
But new stations remain optimistic. Ishadi said the industry
\ncan support an additional three stations. Indonesia's annual
\nMediaScene said total television expenditure this year is
\nexpected to rise by 18 percent this year to Rp 5.821 trillion
\nfrom Rp 4.933 trillion recorded last year.<\/p>\n
"So, we are aiming to become one of the three."<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-tv-ambitions-face-bumpy-road-ahead-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }