Private TV stations may reduce airtime
JAKARTA (JP): Private television stations may have to reduce broadcasting airtime because advertising revenue is down due to the economic slump, said TV executives.
Some stations are implementing austerity measures, including canceling Idul Fitri bonuses for employees above a certain income.
"We have been talking about the possibility (of reducing airtime) since December," Zoraya Perucha, the corporate communications manager of ANteve, said.
The corporate secretary of the Surya Citra Televisi Indonesia (SCTV), Riza Primadi, said that executives of private television stations had met to discuss the matter.
Zoraya was evasive about how much advertising revenue had dropped since the onset of the monetary crisis, saying only that the loss was "significant".
Riza said his company's advertising income had dropped "up to 50 percent beginning December, or simply, there's no growth".
Indosiar public relations manager, Andreas Ambessa, claimed the company's advertising revenue had dropped about 20 percent this month.
Public relations manager of Rajawali Citra Television Indonesia (RCTI), Eduard Depari, estimated that the station's advertising revenue had dropped about 40 percent since December.
All the TV executives agreed that airtime cuts could be incorporated into their stations' austerity measures to cope with increasing financial burdens caused by the crisis.
Of the four television stations, ANteve has the least airtime with 10 hours of broadcast. The other three have an average 23- hours of airtime a day.
Zoraya said her station was still trying to decide whether to cut evening or morning broadcasts.
"We will, for instance, expand programs that have their own sponsorship, like golf and automotive shows," she said.
She also said the management was canceling Idul Fitri bonuses for employees earning more than Rp 3.5 million a month.
Zoraya said ANteve had surpassed its advertising revenue target last August, but its income went down as the monetary crisis deepened.
Depari said it was "still unpredictable whether the current situation will persist".
"Advertisers, like sellers, are now adopting a wait and see approach... (they are) uncertain about the situation," he said. "Things could get better or worse."
Depari said advertising spending would have peaked during the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan had it not been for the monetary crisis.
Meanwhile, Andreas Ambessa of Indosiar said he was pessimistic about advertising spending growing normally in the next two or three years.
"We never thought that after 30 years of enjoying growth, things could suddenly change in only six months," he said.
He said his station's advertising revenue would probably be less than last year, which was Rp 140 billion (US$18.70 million, at the current rate).
Print media have also been hard hit in the economic slump. The soaring of newsprint price accompanied by a drop in advertising revenue have forced a number of publications to either reduce pages or circulation, reduce publishing frequency, dismiss employees or suspend publication.
The Association of Indonesian Newspaper Publishers had predicted that if the situation continued, some 70 percent of Indonesia's 286 publications might face bankruptcy.
Of the 286, 68 percent or 194 are published in Java with a total circulation of 11.1 million copies a year, 89 percent of the country's total circulation.
The price of newsprint supplied by PT Aspex, the country's sole newsprint producer, has risen from Rp 1,390 per kilogram in June to Rp 4,855 by early January because of the rupiah's depreciation against the U.S. dollar. The rupiah closed around 8,450 per dollar in regional trade Friday, from around 2,400 six months ago.
Among publications already affected in the economic downturn and had to take some sort of austerity measures include dailies Kompas, Suara Pembaruan, Media Indonesia, Kedaulatan Rakyat, Bernas, and Suara Timor Timur. (aan)