New cable channel for Koreans living in city
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)