New cable channel for Koreans living in city

JAKARTA (JP): Korean cable television channel Arirang TV will begin broadcasting locally on Aug. 12 under an agreement between Korea International Broadcasting Foundation (KIBF) and a local cable television distributor.

KIBF's president director Kyu Hwan Hwang and Heru Winanto of PT Multimedia Nusantara (Metra) believed its programming -- broadcast in English but with Mandarin subtitles for movies and dramas -- would be able to draw cable TV viewers despite the predominance of better known competitors.

With entertainment accounting for 70 percent of its programming and the remainder devoted to news and documentary films, the channel will broadcast round-the-clock on the cable network.

"The launch marks a huge milestone for Korean TV broadcasting and, because Indonesia and Korea have strong cultural ties, we hope that our programs can serve the needs of Indonesians for more diversified TV programs," Kyu said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Heru noted the potential market among the 17,000 Korean expatriates living in the country and the 37,000 Korean visitors to Indonesia annually.

Arirang TV, which is named after a famous traditional Korean song, has devised its programming content to meet diverse tastes. Included are the miniseries The Winner and Wings of Love, a weekly Korean pop music countdown Pops in Seoul, a focus on fashion with In Style, Oriental Medical Digest promoting Asian medicinal practices and Geo Korea highlighting the beauty of the Korean peninsula.

"We want to make Koreans feel at home here," Heru said.

Viewer access will initially be limited to apartments, hotels and designated residential areas, such as the exclusive housing complexes in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, and Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. The channel can be accessed under a maintenance package with monthly fees of Rp 175,000 (US$23), Rp 100,000 and Rp 75,000 per month.

"To receive these programs, people have to buy our Samsung decoder and we can install and maintain it in their homes," Metra's marketing executive Saifudin said.

Metra, a joint venture of both private and state companies, serves 10,000 individual and commercial subscribers, such as hotels and apartments, with distribution of HBO, CNN, TNT and the Cartoon Network. (emf)