Local TV stations copy foreign shows
Local TV stations copy foreign shows
JAKARTA (JP): Many locally produced television shows are
simply adaptations of or variations on foreign television
programs, an expert said yesterday.
M. Hidayat, who is organizing a seminar on the development of
local TV programs, said local shows are still produced
haphazardly.
"Just look at the quiz shows on TV, most are copies of foreign
quiz shows. Even the series Pak John's House is an adaptation of
a show on a Hong Kong TV station," Hidayat explained.
He blamed the production houses which make the programs for
their lack of seriousness.
"Work on local shows is conducted in a rather casual sort of
way," he said.
He argued that local shows should be made with the utmost care
since the TV industry is still growing.
Hidayat argued that such an attitude has caused television
audiences to select foreign programs over local ones.
"People prefer watching telenovelas to local soap operas, not
because the telenovelas have better stories but because the
production is better," he said.
Telenovelas are the very popular daytime soap opera programs
usually imported from Latin American countries.
The seminar, to be held at the Borobudur Inter-Continental
Hotel from Sept. 11 to 13, will tackle these and other TV issues.
Several notable experts and speakers on the subject are
scheduled to talk during the seminar, among them director Ali
Sahab, journalist Arswendo Atmowiloto, former head of the state-
owned television station TVRI Ishadi S.K. and the managing
director of Malaysia's TV3 Khalid Ahmad.
Commenting on the question of local content, Hidayat said that
of the six stations now broadcasting -- ANteve, RCTI, SCTV, TPI,
Indosiar, and TVRI -- only the latter has truly succeeded in
observing the government's ordinance requiring programming to be
80 percent local and 20 percent foreign.
The other five, all privately owned, at most allot between 40
to 50 percent of their air time for local programs, many of
which, he added, are of questionable quality. (mds)