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)