Pay-TV Has Yet to Pay Off, But Market is Wide Open
The nation’s pay-TV providers have failed to turn a profit yet, but they are rapidly adding customers as they scramble to capture a largely untapped market.
Last year, 850,000 Indonesian households subscribed to pay-TV - about 2 percent of the 40 million who own televisions. These numbers smell like future profits to industry executives, who are upgrading infrastructure and providing more programming.
“To be profitable, a pay-TV company needs a minimum of 500,000 customers, so it’s hard to talk about profit so far,” said Bambang Lusmiadi, finance director of pay-TV provider Telkomvision, told the Jakarta Globe in an interview.
But Bambang is optimistic about the future. Launched in 2007 by PT Indonusa Telemedia, Telkomvision has doubled the number of its subscribers over the past year to 200,000 as of the end of September. It has set a target of adding 50,000 more by the end of the year.
Indonusa is a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the country’s largest telecom.
Telkomvision has plans to launch a satellite next year to increase the number of channels it offers from its current 29. It also plans to offer its channels via the Internet by early next year.
“With the satellite and the IP TV [Internet protocol TV], we hope we can offer more attractive programs and sign up more subscribers,” Bambang said.
Meanwhile, Indovision, a unit of PT MNC Skyvision, led the pay-TV market with 560,000 subscribers - 60 percent of the market - as of the end of the third quarter of this year. It said it was adding 35,000 subscribers per month.
Indovision launched a satellite in May that enabled it to increase its channels to 80. It said it plans to add another 40 soon.
“We are optimistic that we can reach more than 600,000 subscribers by the end of the year,” said Hening Tjiptadi, chief operating officer of MNC Skyvision.
The Lippo Group’s PT First Media, meanwhile, had 248,000 Internet and pay-TV subscribers as of October, an increase of 19 percent from the end of last year. It expects to boost its subscriber base by another 20 percent by the end of the year, it said.
“We aim to grab more than 300,000 subscribers as of the end of the year,” said Harianda, First Media’s corporate secretary.
The Jakarta Globe is affiliated with Lippo Group.
Last year, 850,000 Indonesian households subscribed to pay-TV - about 2 percent of the 40 million who own televisions. These numbers smell like future profits to industry executives, who are upgrading infrastructure and providing more programming.
“To be profitable, a pay-TV company needs a minimum of 500,000 customers, so it’s hard to talk about profit so far,” said Bambang Lusmiadi, finance director of pay-TV provider Telkomvision, told the Jakarta Globe in an interview.
But Bambang is optimistic about the future. Launched in 2007 by PT Indonusa Telemedia, Telkomvision has doubled the number of its subscribers over the past year to 200,000 as of the end of September. It has set a target of adding 50,000 more by the end of the year.
Indonusa is a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the country’s largest telecom.
Telkomvision has plans to launch a satellite next year to increase the number of channels it offers from its current 29. It also plans to offer its channels via the Internet by early next year.
“With the satellite and the IP TV [Internet protocol TV], we hope we can offer more attractive programs and sign up more subscribers,” Bambang said.
Meanwhile, Indovision, a unit of PT MNC Skyvision, led the pay-TV market with 560,000 subscribers - 60 percent of the market - as of the end of the third quarter of this year. It said it was adding 35,000 subscribers per month.
Indovision launched a satellite in May that enabled it to increase its channels to 80. It said it plans to add another 40 soon.
“We are optimistic that we can reach more than 600,000 subscribers by the end of the year,” said Hening Tjiptadi, chief operating officer of MNC Skyvision.
The Lippo Group’s PT First Media, meanwhile, had 248,000 Internet and pay-TV subscribers as of October, an increase of 19 percent from the end of last year. It expects to boost its subscriber base by another 20 percent by the end of the year, it said.
“We aim to grab more than 300,000 subscribers as of the end of the year,” said Harianda, First Media’s corporate secretary.
The Jakarta Globe is affiliated with Lippo Group.