New Indonesian TV station to air news in Mandarin
New Indonesian TV station to air news in Mandarin
By Antariksawan Jusuf
JAKARTA (JP): A new TV station, Metro TV, will break the local
television mold by adding Mandarin-language news broadcasts to
its daily programming. This will be the first time news in
Mandarin will be aired on local television.
As a news station, it will start broadcasting on Nov. 18, and
on Nov. 25 it has an ambitious plan to run full-speed ahead with
24-hour broadcasts.
In its daily programming, Metro has scheduled a 60-minute
Mandarin news broadcast twice daily on weekdays and two half-hour
wrap ups on weekends.
Metro is one of five new commercial TV stations, to add to the
existing five commercial stations. Four other new stations --
Trans TV, DVN TV, PR TV and Global TV -- must start broadcasting
next year or forfeit their Rp 1 billion (US$108,695) guarantee.
The airing of news in Mandarin will be the first time since
television came to Indonesia in 1962 when the state TVRI aired
the Asian Games. Private stations started operating in 1989 with
the introduction of RCTI.
The use of the Mandarin language was banned nationwide from
1965 to 1994 after the Indonesian government accused China of
complicity in a failed coup. Up until now, there has been no news
in Mandarin on Indonesian television even after the ban was
lifted. Jakarta froze relations with Beijing in 1967 but resumed
ties in 1990.
Besides news in Mandarin, anchored by three presenters, Metro
will air several imported current affairs programs from CNNI,
APTN and documentaries such as Beyond 2000.
The station, which will broadcast at 57 UHF in Greater
Jakarta, is backed by businessman Surya Paloh, owner and
publisher of Media Indonesia daily.
Metro operations director Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya earlier said the
station would lease space on RCTI's 200-meter high tower to
install a transmission antenna.
This facility-sharing has led to speculation that Bimantara, a
major shareholder of RCTI, is also behind Metro TV. "No it's not
true. RCTI does not have any share here. It all belongs to Surya
Paloh," Zsa Zsa said.
Metro's coverage area in the first phase will include Greater
Jakarta. It can also be picked up throughout the country by
satellite dish. In the second phase, coverage is expected to
reach several other cities such as Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang,
Surakarta, Makassar and Medan.
It expects to fill in 80 percent of the slots with in-house
programs. "Headlines will be given every hour, on the hour," Zsa
Zsa said, adding that other programs will include talk shows and
imported documentaries.
Although running against the stream by narrow casting and
targeting a niche market, Metro is optimistic it will survive.
And as far as news in Mandarin is concerned, the market is there
ready to cultivate.
Although Chinese-Indonesians comprise only about 3 percent of
the population, there are people who speak Mandarin and refer to
Mandarin news as a news source.
"I don't speak English. So I watch Beijing TV for
international news," admits Hendrik Linan, a China-born
Indonesian.
Linan, who is president director of production house Cakrawala
Kencana Produksi, said there are seven new Mandarin language
newspapers. Apart from the government-controlled Harian
Indonesia, which was exempt from the ban on Chinese culture,
there are three others in Jakarta, two in East Java's capital
Surabaya, and one in Medan.
Since Metro will initially be available only in Jakarta, we
will have to wait to see whether it can seize a slice of the
market.