'ABC' seeking Indonesian partner

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) hopes to follow up on the popularity of its Radio Australia in Indonesia by penetrating the local television industry.

ABC Managing Director David Hill is visiting Indonesia this week to negotiate broadcast arrangements with local television companies.

"Indonesia provides a large and important audience for Radio Australia and there is growing interest in international television services," Hill told reporters on Monday.

Hill would not elaborate on which local television stations are involved, besides confirming that negotiations for rebroadcast arrangements are underway at this time.

According to Hill, Australian television programs can either be downlinked or rebroadcast free of charge if local programmers also broadcast the commercial sponsors of that particular program.

ABC's Australian Television (ATV) already reaches Indonesian television viewers who own satellite receiver dishes. ATV's international broadcasts were launched here last year using Indonesia's Palapa B2P satellite.

"The service has been spectacularly successful," Hill said, adding that they were also extremely satisfied with the facilities provided by the Palapa satellite.

Hill also expressed ABC's eagerness to shift to new Palapa C provided a "satisfactory arrangement" can be found.

Hill asserted that Indonesian stations should not feel threatened by the presence of Australian programs.

"We do not regard ATV as constituting a threat to Indonesian programs because it concentrates more on education and information," he said.

ATV has already been downlinked from Palapa to local networks in Laos, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines. (07)