New 'Ar-Rahman Channel' offers

New 'Ar-Rahman Channel' offers
education and Islam

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Luas Samudera
Contributor
Jakarta
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Much has been said about the four novel television stations
which grappled for their maiden broadcast last October. However,
with far less publicity, a new kind of television service has
been launched: Ar-Rahman, a free satellite television channel.

One of its shareholders, Budiman, said Ar-Rahman (Most
Gracious) refers to one of the verses of the Koran in which
telecommunications is mentioned.

But why Arabic, or an Islamic sounding name? The station has
picked education and Islam as its main line of programming
choice, said Budiman, president director of the firm which runs
the station, PT Ar-Rahman Media.

"It started from a simple idea. We wanted to launch a business
that covered subjects pertaining to both the worldly and the
divine.

Budiman splits his ownership with long-time friend Eri
Prabowo, a familiar name in the Indonesian television industry.
Prabowo is an advisor to Quick channel and the founder of a
dedicated all-Indonesian music channel I-music -- both are
channels of pay-TV Indovision and Kabelvision.

Ar-Rahman programming will focus on education and Islam in a
country where 80 percent of the population of 227 million are
Muslims.

The idea of an Islamic education channel is not totally new. A
similar service is available in the UK, Middle Eastern countries
and the United States. U.S. cable television Islamicity boasts
2.5 million subscribers. But Budiman claims this is the first in
South Asia and the Southeast Asia region.

"A broadcast trial commenced in early November," said Eri
Prabowo.

Ar-Rahman will be beamed from Jakarta via Cakrawarta S-band
satellite to receivers which will be installed in Islamic
boarding schools throughout the country. The station targets to
install 40 receivers in the schools within the first six months
of next year.

According to Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the largest Indonesian
Muslim organization Nahdhatul Ulama, who hosted a meeting with
Prabowo and Budiman, there are some 12,000 Islamic boarding
schools in the country.

"From the traditionally run to the modern hi-tech school,"
Muzadi said.

As far as programming is concerned, Ar-Rahman will rely
entirely on outsourcing, including from the existing free
television stations such as RCTI, SCTV, TPI and Indosiar.
As a part of their public service, these stations dedicate hours
of their daily programming to Islamic programs, ranging from
preaching, musical programs and even series.

Ar-Rahman will also import programs from Islam-based cable MTA
of the UK, or Islamicity of the U.S., Budiman said.

"These (foreign) cable televisions broadcast varied and
interesting programs. So we don't have to worry so much about the
programing content," Budiman said.

An example of these programs is Adam's World, an animated
program for kids, featuring a small kid learning to pray, to
practice fasting and to show respect to others. There is also the
story of Prince Salam which looks like Disney's Aladdin, but has
Islamic overtones in the way the characters dress. Princess
Jasmine, for example, wears a veil.

Ar-Rahman will also provide concepts for religious programs to
new stations such as TransTV and LaTV. The station will not
produce the programs themselves, citing reasons of efficiency and
the opportunity to provide jobs for others. They will instead
commission production houses to produce them.

Budiman said in the long run the station would also aim to
attract cable customers in neighboring countries such as Malaysia
via Astro and Brunei. The service expects to reach some 750,000
subscribers within the Islamic community.

And the project does not end only with television. Ar-Rahman
will develop a website that can provide video streaming so that
it can be accessed throughout the world.

The station has earmarked Rp 2 billion (US$200,000) as an
initial investment which is expected to reach Rp 5 billion in the
future, including the budget for the website.

The station hopes to reach a break-even point in the second
year of operation.

An industry expert in cable industry, who requested anonymity,
said the service would attract a bigger audience if it
broadcasted through a regular free (non-subscription) television,
instead of satellite television.

"There's a barrier. Not all potential Muslim customers can
access the service. They have to buy a new satellite dish. That's
their biggest hurdle," he said.