New Indonesian TV stations: To be or not to be<\/p>\n
By Antariksawan Jusuf<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): On the Indonesian television landscape, the talk
\nof the town is whether the five new free television licensees are
\never going to hit the air at all. If yes, the next question is
\nwhether they will survive in the competitive market?<\/p>\n
The government last year granted five new free-tv licenses to
\nTrans TV, DVN TV, PR TV, Global TV and Metro TV to add to the
\nfive commercial stations already in operation. They have been
\ngiven two years to begin their operations, until September 2001,
\nor else they will lose their one billion rupiah guarantees.<\/p>\n
So far only Metro TV and Trans TV have set their launch dates,
\nrespectively in November 2000 and June 2001.<\/p>\n
Metro will go narrow casting with round-the-clock news,
\nincluding a 30-minute Mandarin news segment and 60 minutes of
\nEnglish news. It targets itself to be the \"CNN of Indonesia,\"
\nsays Metro's operations director Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya, a former
\npresenter of the first commercial station's, RCTI's, news
\nprogram Seputar Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Metro is backed by businessman Surya Paloh, the publisher of
\nMedia Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But why all the round-the-clock news? \"Changes happen within
\nseconds and they cannot wait for a deadline. With current reform
\nopenness, it is the right time for Indonesian people to have a
\nportion of news any time they need. News is no longer a secondary
\nneed, especially for busy viewers. So they can tune in any time
\naccording to their habits.\"<\/p>\n
Metro TV's coverage area in its first phase will take in
\ngreater Jakarta at 57 UHF. It will also be accessible throughout
\nthe country via satellite dishes. But it has yet to determine
\nwhich satellite -- Palapa of Satelindo or Cakrawarta of Datakom
\n-- to use. In the second phase, coverage is expected to reach
\nseveral other cities, such as Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Solo
\n(Surakarta), Makassar and Medan. \"It depends on our investment
\nand cash flow.\"<\/p>\n
While Trans TV, whose directors include Ishadi SK, former
\ndirector general of radio, film and television of the now-defunct
\ninformation ministry, and former RCTI director Alex Kumara, is to
\ntake a broadcasting approach with general programming line ups
\nlike RCTI, SCTV, TPI, ANteve and Indosiar.<\/p>\n
To support their programming, Trans TV visited a television
\nprogramming market held in Cannes, France and LA Screening in Los
\nAngeles this year. During the event in Cannes last April, Trans
\nTV reportedly committed to hundreds of hours of programing from
\ninternational distributors.<\/p>\n
PR TV, which stands for Pasaraya TV and is backed by
\nbusinessman Abdul Latief, former manpower minister and the owner
\nof the Pasaraya shopping stores, expects to make its maiden
\nbroadcast in April next year. PR TV's managing director Chrys
\nKelana, former head of RCTI's Seputar Indonesia, said the station
\nwill have general programming in order to catch a wider audience.
\nPR TV hopes to secure 10 percent of the total advertising market
\nto survive.<\/p>\n
Will they survive? Every station is optimistic and their
\nmantra is one of efficiency.<\/p>\n
\"As we are going narrow casting and the majority of programs
\nare produced by in-house, we can be very efficient. We aim to
\nemploy a maximum of 280 people, very slim compared to a broadcast
\nstation,\" Zsa Zsa said.<\/p>\n
PR TV, which plans to reach three cities in its initial stage,
\nexpects to run a slim operation in terms of human resources. \"We
\nprefer to have a smaller staff but of highly capable people.\"<\/p>\n
R.T.S. Masli, chairman of the Indonesian Advertising Agency
\nAssociation (PPPI), said the new stations would enjoy the growth
\nof advertising industry.<\/p>\n
\"Advertising agencies tend to buy programs, not television
\nstations. Pick an example such as Si Doel. It does not matter if
\nit is screened on RCTI or Indosiar,\" he said.<\/p>\n
So, there is a chance that every player can grab a piece of
\nthe growing advertising cake.<\/p>\n
He said the country's advertising expenditure was predicted to
\nrise by at least 20 percent to Rp 5.6 trillion, 65 percent of
\nwhich is predicted to account for television industry. The
\nforecast is based on the performance of advertising spending
\nbefore the crisis which recorded year-on-year growth of 20
\npercent to 28 percent.<\/p>\n
But some skeptics say the projected amount of advertising
\nexpenditure does not reflect the actual growth which remains low
\nbecause of bonuses and discounts for advertisers. And if the
\nactual expenditure is divided by 10 stations, one or two stations
\nwill meet their doom. Only time will tell.<\/p>",
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