Rupert Murdoch enters Indonesian TV industry<\/p>\n
Ignatius Haryanto, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After weeks of rumors among journalists, the media and
\nbusiness communities, finally at the end of September, there was
\nconfirmation, that News Corporation, through its wing in Hong
\nKong, bought 20 percent of shares in ANTV, a local private
\ntelevision station, which is owned by the Bakrie family. Aburizal
\nBakrie is the coordinating minister for the economy.<\/p>\n
According to the Indonesian Broadcasting Law, foreign
\ninvestors can own a maximum of 20 percent shares in an Indonesian
\nmedia enterprise.<\/p>\n
The question for us now is what is the purpose behind Rupert
\nMurdoch and News Corporation coming to Indonesia? Is it purely a
\nbusiness deal, that will have no other repercussions for society,
\nespecially the landscape of the Indonesian media industry and its
\nstakeholders?<\/p>\n
Through out the world there are only a few media giants that
\ncontrol media content globally, namely AOL-TimeWarner, Disney,
\nViacom, Universal, Sony, News Corporation.<\/p>\n
The international media industry, from 1980 up to now has been
\nmarked by mergers and acquisitions, resulting in fewer companies.<\/p>\n
For other media moguls, the coming of Murdoch into Indonesia
\nwill be a test, whether they should explore the Indonesian media
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
Murdoch has proven to be strong enough to lead the battle in
\nthe global media industry. While other competitors were fighting
\nhard to survive, like The Walt Disney company which the Economist
\ncalled \"The Tragic Kingdom\" - instead of the \"Magic Kingdom\", as
\nDisney was once called in the 1980-1990s, or like the mega merger
\nbetween America On Line and Time Warner in early 2000, that was
\nrecorded as the biggest ever media deal, but turned out to be the
\nworst in history, since their shares were lower than expected.<\/p>\n
What happened to radio and print media in the era of global
\ncapital coming into TV industries? As the media industries have
\nnow merged into various forms of media, people should be aware
\nthat the capitalization in the television industry is higher than
\nother businesses.<\/p>\n
The coming of Rupert Murdoch into the Indonesian media
\nindustry is probably just the first step for other foreign
\ncapital to enter the Indonesian market. Many media businessmen
\nare waiting anxiously to see whether Murdoch can make it or not.<\/p>\n
According to the 2002 Broadcasting Law, foreign investors are
\nallowed a maximum of 20 percent shares. This is really the
\nopposite of what had happened in 1994 when then minister of
\ninformation, Harmoko, refused foreign investment to protect
\n\"local and national culture\". Is Harmoko's argument still valid
\ntoday? And in this respect, how can we deal with the issue of the
\nentry of foreign culture as against local and national culture.
\nMedia regulatory bodies like the Indonesian Broadcasting
\nCommission (KPI) may be able to clarify this concern.<\/p>\n
There are other issues related to the 20 percent maximum for
\nforeign investment. How can we be sure, that ANTV will only get
\n20 percent of foreign investment, because we know that global
\ncapital can operate in a very sophisticated way, including how
\ncan they enter a specific market. What can the media regulatory
\nbody do about it?<\/p>\n
How can they control the capital flow in this business? And
\nthe hottest topic then, is concerning cross media ownership,
\nwhich is also stipulated under the Broadcasting Law, but there is
\nno further elaboration on that issue. Is this really the time for
\nthe KPI to rule out cross media ownership?<\/p>\n
Murdoch usually has a special team to lead his work, and for
\nthat he can easily kick out people whose thinking is not in line
\nwith its policy. No one can be sure that Murdoch and his team
\nwill not use the same technique in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
For the Indonesian audience, we still don't know what kind of
\nprograms Murdoch and ANTV will provide in the future. More news
\nstories -- since Karni Ilyas from SCTV has agreed to join ANTV
\nsoon, or more entertainment content? Murdoch and his empire are
\nfamous for their entertainment kingdom; together with its right-
\nleaning TV Channel, Fox News.<\/p>\n
Many predict that more entertainment content will feature in
\nANTV, rather than serious or informational content. For Murdoch,
\nthe important thing is to sell and for that we cannot hope that
\nMurdoch will provide us with insightful and intelligent programs.
\nCompetition will be more intense in the media industry in the
\nfuture; more and more investment will be injected into this
\nindustry. But what will happen after that?<\/p>\n
The Entertaining Leviathan, will perhaps run the media
\nindustry, and they will provide us with more and more
\nentertainment. Quoting Neil Postman famous book, they will amuse
\nus \"till death.\"<\/p>\n
The writer is a researcher at LSPP, concentrated on the media
\nownership issue.<\/p>",
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