Luas Samudera
Luas Samudera
Contributor
Jakarta
The introduction of several new private TV stations -- Trans-TV,
Lativi, TV7 and Global-TV -- earlier this year has changed the
map of local TV.
The top three are still in the hands of the oldtimers:
Indosiar, RCTI and SCTV, although the new Trans-TV has
taken a small portion of the viewership, endangering the position
of fourth ranked TPI.
Clearly, the three stations -- Trans-TV, Lativi and TV7 plunge
into already crowded general entertainment and "supermarket"
television of the mainstream channels, while Global-TV joined
hands with MTV Asia to run a 24-hour music channel, some programs
were even moved from the former MTV partner ANteve. The latter
has introduced several new live formats since the change of its
ownership.
In terms of ownership, local TV saw several dramatic ownership
changes. Front runner Indosiar, whose 49 percent shares were sold
by the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to PT TDM
Asset Management. Skeptics suspect former owner Salim group is
behind the firm which was set up only three months before taking
over the majority ownership of Indosiar. But no further
explanation on the issue from the publicly listed firm was
available. IBRA, and its subsidiary PT Holdiko Perkasa, which
controls all assets of the former Salim conglomerate, still holds
8.26 percent of shares in the station, while 27.74 percent shares
are held by PT Prima Viasualindo and 15 percent by the public.
ANteve changed management which significantly revamped its
programming lineup. It was reported to have been totally sold to
Capital Management Asia, this firm is believed to be Bakrie's
Singapore-based firm, from former shareholders' PT Bakrie
Investindo (60 percent) and PT Hasmuda Internusa (40 percent)
since March 2002. Bakrie's heir-to-the-crown Anindya Bakrie is
now holding the position as the president director of the firm.
Spokesperson Soraya Perucha said CMA is a consortium of several
local companies, but she refused to reveal the total investment
involved in the deal.
Third-ranked SCTV's holding company PT Surya Citra Media
(SCM), which earlier took over shares of PT Datakom Asia in SCTV,
has sold its 20 percent or 375 million shares, to the public at
an initial price offering 1,100 rupiah in early July. Lead
underwriter CLSA Indonesia said 70 percent of the shares were
bought by foreign financial institutions.
SCM said the proceeds will be used largely to pay off a loan
to a local bank worth Rp 230 billion, and Rp 150 billion rupiah
is earmarked to expand SCTV's facilities and the remaining will
be allocated to strengthen corporate capital. After the IPO, PT
Abhimata Mediatama and PT Mitrasari Persada respectively own 40
percent of the shares.
However, a company, PT Citra Gemilang Sejahtera (CGS) in
November called on the management of the Jakarta Stock Exchange
to temporarily suspend trading of SCM shares.
CGS, believed to be owned by Surya Paloh of Metro-TV and Media
Indonesia daily, claimed that Datakom was still holding 47.5
percent of the shares in SCTV. CGS has acquired Datakom's credit
assets held by IBRA amounting to Rp 180 billion. These assets are
believed to include 47.5 percent of the shares in SCTV and an
option to acquire 25 percent of Indosiar for Rp 25 billion.
Another player Bhakti Investama is pouring its energy into the
television business under its Bimantara holding company. During a
shareholders' meeting in early May, Hary Tanoesudibyo was
appointed as the president director of Bimantara. Earlier, under
its subsidiary PT Panca Aneka Selaras, Bimantara acquired 70
percent of new free TV licensee Global-TV. Two other stations,
RCTI and round-the-clock news channel Metro-TV are already under
Bimantara's umbrella, which owns 69.8 percent and 25 percent,
respectively.
Two television stations -- TPI and a local JTV in Surabaya-
almost fell as the first victims of the cut-throat industry.
Publicly listed IDD monopoly holder Indosat has threatened to
claim bankruptcy against TPI because of its failure to pay off on
convertible bonds worth Rp 150 billion due last October. After
negotiations, Indosat agreed to extend the terms for another two
months.
Earlier this year, police in East Java closed down and barred
entry to the transmission facilities of JTV, citing illegal
operations. No further explanations were available on what the
station could do to resume the service the following week.
* Local TV
With the growing pressure for more regional autonomy since the
fall of the Indonesian government under former president Suharto,
several Indonesia provinces have launched or in the process of
launching their own local television stations.
The oil-rich region of Riau has introduced Riau-TV in addition
to an existing local station Pekanbaru-TV which hit the air last
year.
And so the same story goes for Amuntai-TV in the South
Kalimantan town of Hulu Sungai Utara, Makassar-TV in South
Sulawesi, Pupuk Kaltim-TV and LNG-TV both in East Kalimantan.
East Java province has several stations such as JTV in Surabaya,
Eskape-TV in Banyuwangi, Lumajang-TV in Lumajang, WM-TV owned by
Widya Manggala university in Surabaya. There is also one in
Central Java Pemalang-TV and Papua-TV in Papua.
* Pay TV
Despite relatively stagnant growth of several existing
operators, others still see the light at the end of the tunnel in
the pay TV industry.
One company, Global Vision, is still optimistic about getting
a bite and launched the service in July 2002.
Other firms such as PT Cipta Skynindo, reported a surprising
number of 30,000 new subscribers for its Chinese channels during
its two years of operations. Unplink feeds are transmitted from
Taiwan.
The existing cable operators have to face the fact that the
Indonesian market is not used to pay TV yet. PT Broadband
Multimedia, which operates Kabelvision, has yet to reach their
ideal plan of 100,000 subscribers by the end of this year.
The first pay TV group here was Indovision, owned by Datakom,
and it saw the number of its subscribers hover in the
neighborhood of 30,000 in the past three years. The only change
is Datakom Asia changed hands from Peter Gontha to PT Bhakti
Investama of Hary Tanoesudibyo.
Armed with more existing facilities to exploit, TelkomVision
provides subscribers with more choice to access its pay TV
services using fiber optic technology in conjunction with its
parent company's Telkom-1 satellite.
* Advertising Expenditure
There is no official figure yet on this year's advertising
expenditures, but according to the Indonesian Advertising Agency
Association (P3I) chairman RTS Masli, this year's gross
advertising is estimated to grow by 30 percent to reach Rp 12.6
trillion. He said 60 percent of it (Rp 7.5 trillion) would go to
television stations.
* New Broadcast Law
One of the hottest issues of the industry this year was the
introduction of a controversial Broadcast Law to replace the
outdated 1997 Broadcast Law. The law will take effect after being
signed by the president. The approval of the law by the
legislature in November, amid protests from television and radio
owners, could drastically change the industry. Only the
government owned and operated television station, TVRI will be
able to air nationwide. While private stations will air locally
and their reach to other provinces is allowed under a condition
that they team up with a local firm.
The new law also allows foreign ownership to a maximum of 20
percent and acknowledges the community television.
One of the controversies is the formation of a new Indonesian
Broadcast Commission (KPI) which sets broadcast guidelines,
provides broadcast permits, oversees implementation of broadcast
regulations and hands out sanctions for evildoers. This
commission is believed to be the new super powerful offspring of
the now-defunct information ministry under former president
Suharto. Former president Abdurrachman Wahid dissolved the
ministry in the spirit of free press, democracy and Reformasi,
but apparently the current administration felt it was necessary
to regain control.
The new law is expected to influence the trading of shares
related to stations such as SCM of SCTV, Indosiar, and Bimantara,
owner of RCTI, Metro-TV and Global-TV.
I-BOX:
Percentage of viewership shares of commercial stations
.rm110
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RCTI SCTV TPI Indosiar ANteve Metro-TV TVRI Trans-TV TV7 Lativi Global JTV
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April 13 - April 20, 2002 22 23 12 28 3 1 2 5 1 1 1 0
April 28 - May 4, 2002 22 20 11 29 4 1 3 6 1 1 2 0
Oct. 28 - Nov.4, 2002 18 17 10 29 5 2 2 10 3 1 3 0
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Source: AC Nielsen based on all times, all demographic segments