Television aiding sports development<\/p>\n
By Antariksawan Jusuf<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Television and sports have evolved into a
\nmutually beneficial association, and in a developing nation like
\nIndonesia, television sometimes becomes the backbone of sports
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
As an entertainment, sports can attract viewers who become the
\ntarget for sponsors. And the aim of commercial television is to
\nprovide wide distribution for sponsor value. In the end, wide
\ndistribution is in tandem with high revenue for stations.<\/p>\n
A good example of direct TV-sports relations was reported by
\nSporTVision magazine, which states that an Australian television
\nstation has \"interfered\" in the number of sports for the 1998
\nCommonwealth Games, to be held in Kuala Lumpur in September.<\/p>\n
Normally in a multiple sports competition, the host committee
\ndecides the number and variety of sports to be played. And, the
\nmagazine states, the Malaysian committee has added cricket and
\nrugby, both popular sports in Australia, to make Australia's
\nChannel 9 pay serious money for the rights to broadcast the
\nGames.<\/p>\n
As Indonesia's monetary crisis has encroached on television
\nadvertising revenue to the tune of more than 70 percent, sports
\ndevelopment is at stake. The semipro soccer league (Ligina) aired
\nweekly on ANteve, and its Division I and II, have been canceled
\ndue to the worsening situation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's volleyball league season this year was scheduled
\nto commence in August but has met the same fate. The crisis has
\nforced the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) cancel this
\nyear's season, PBVSI official Sutardiono said.<\/p>\n
This year also saw several foreign coaches, including Henk
\nWullems (soccer) and Gebhard Gritsch (lawn tennis), pack their
\nbags and head for home.<\/p>\n
The deteriorating economy has also forced the Indonesian
\nsoccer association, PSSI, to surrender its chance to become the
\nhost of this year's regional football championship, the Tiger
\nCup, to Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The lesser-known basketball league (Kobatama) has had to oust
\nits imported players, who pocketed contract fees in dollars,
\nfollowing the slump of the rupiah against the greenback. Luckily,
\nKobatama is still going.<\/p>\n
Basketball is a fine example of how television can support the
\ngrowth of sports. SCTV took over the Kobatama competition, held
\nas a tournament since 1982, from the Indonesian Basketball
\nAssociation (Perbasi).<\/p>\n
SCTV relaunched it in 1994 as a semipro league. In tandem with
\nbroadcasts of the NBA, a formerly second-rate sport basketball
\nleague has become one of the country's major sports.<\/p>\n
The station provides subsidies to each participating team and
\nto the Perbasi provincial chapter where each match is held --
\nJakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Bogor. In an effort to develop
\nbasketball here, SCTV has signed a commitment with Perbasi to
\n2002 worth hundreds of million of rupiah. The station has also
\norganized a university basketball league and high school
\nbasketball competition.<\/p>\n
ANteve, whose sports scheduling makes up 30 percent of total
\nweekly programming, provides Rp 2 billion ($143,000) in broadcast
\nfees through private enterprise to the Indonesian soccer league.<\/p>\n
The station's sports producer, Reva Dedy Utama, said that
\ndespite the crisis, ANteve will keep Sunday a sports day by
\nairing sports-related programs from 12:30 p.m. to 1 a.m, Monday.<\/p>\n
ANteve, which won Best Sports Program at the 1997 Asian
\nTelevision Awards, expects Ligina to return in October to help
\npromote the country's national soccer team.<\/p>\n
Similar efforts to develop sports are being made by RCTI, with
\nits indoor soccer and boxing, and Indosiar, which airs live
\nprofessional boxing weekly.<\/p>\n
If it wasn't for well-established and popular sports like
\nbadminton and lawn tennis, other sports would fail to win the
\ninterest of television stations and would barely survive.<\/p>\n
In the current situation, subsidizing local sports seems to be
\na better choice for stations than acquiring imported sports
\nprograms. At least, the rights fee and subsidy are set in rupiah.<\/p>\n
For the recent World Cup '98, the state TVRI station joined
\nforces with the five commercial stations to tackle the rights fee
\nworth hundreds of thousands of dollars and distributed all the
\ngames equally. Each station were entitled to all 64 matches but
\nonly 15 went live on each station.<\/p>\n
Other imported live sports events are now facing bleak
\nprospects. Soccer fans are unlikely to enjoy the foreign leagues
\n-- the English league (ANteve, SCTV), the Italian league (ANteve,
\nRCTI), the German and Spanish leagues (ANteve), and the German
\nand Dutch leagues (TVRI) -- next season due to the rights fees,
\nwhich are set in dollars.<\/p>\n
If the crisis persists and stations experience further slumps
\nin their revenues, there will be no future for significant sports
\ndevelopment in the country.<\/p>\n
-- The writer works in a private television.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/television-aiding-sports-development-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }