Piracy stalls RI's home entertainment
By Marselli Sumarno
JAKARTA (JP): Gope Samptani's experience epitomizes the prospects of the home video business in Indonesia.
In 1988, Gope and seven other importers began a video business. In the two years he spent in the new field, he imported more than 300 Mandarin and American films.
The video cassettes he imported, however, faced stiff competition from much cheaper pirated cassettes. He therefore couldn't sell his stock.
Only after Gope had imported 500 titles did he give up.
"I suffered a great loss," he says.
Gope has stayed away from the video importing business for five years.
"I haven't got the courage yet. I still maintain a wait-and- see attitude," he said, adding that piracy is why the home video business is not thriving.
There are only four video importers, half the previous total number in 1988.
Even the prospering laser disc (LD) business has not escaped the impact of illegal selling and rental activities. It also faces competition from recordings smuggled into Indonesia.
The government first allowed the import of LDs in 1993. Since then, the LD market has fared quite well. In Jakarta there are over 154 shops renting or selling LDs and video cassettes. Laser discs generally sell for over Rp 100,000, while rentals go for Rp 5000 a day. There are a great variety of LDs, from cartoons to classics like High Noon and Gone with the Wind.
According to a businessman, LD rentals are brisker than sales. The rental business is lucrative because most rental shops bind consumers in a package. A consumer pays more than Rp 100,000 to rent 20 LDs. Door-to-door LD rentals are cheaper.
It is easy to find LD films which have not been distributed here or are still playing in cinemas. Which leads to the question of legality.
The Indonesian and American governments have cooperated on copyrights since March 1989. In practice, however, the cooperation touches more on audio products.
In 1991, a Motion Picture Export Association of America representative hit Indonesia's illegal video cassette market hard. The representative witnessed the burning of illegal video cassettes in Jakarta.
Last April an attempt was made to eliminate all illegal recordings from Jakarta. According to Semyon Sinulingga, head of the Municipal Film Control Agency, all video cassettes and LDs not bearing stickers from the Film Censorship Board were considered illegal and were confiscated and destroyed.
Recordings without stickers, LD films still being screened in cinemas, and films containing pornography are liable to be confiscated.
Greeted with mixed feelings by sellers, rental operators and the community, the police seized 1,775 stickerless LDs in April.
The effort to eradicate illegal recording may help Gope revive his video business.
"Efforts regarding illegal recordings must continue," he said. "Law enforcement must be effective in stopping people distributing the material."
The 1992 Law on Films states that a person proven to own or distribute uncensored recordings is subject to a maximum of five years imprisonment or a fine of $23,000, he says.
The entire Indonesian audio-visual industry could change shortly. New importers are now ready to take up the home video business. Prospects are flourishing with some U.S. companies preparing to return and a potential market of 4.6 million video cassette recorders and 450,000 LD players in the country.
Warner Home Video led the charge in April when it signed a two-year licensing deal with Indonesian distributor Vision Home Entertainment. Later, Columbia TriStar Home Video signed a deal with Kenchana Pratama Bhakti, the distributor division of Mitraguna Likorindo.
Eko Supardjo, chairman of Asirevi, the Indonesian Video Importers Association, is optimistic. With product flowing in from at least two major distributors and stores getting better organized, "we'll see a boom in the near future," he told the international entertainment weekly magazine, Variety.