Radio, pay-TV to resume 24-hour broadcasts
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has revised a controversial decree cutting back the airtime for broadcasters to allow radio and pay-TV stations to resume broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Local TV stations, however, are still required to go off the air from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., according to the decree signed by Minister of Information and Communications Sofyan Djalil on Friday.
The Ministry of Information and Communications issued Decree No. 11/2005 last month obliging all broadcast stations to go off the air from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., in a bid to save energy amid soaring oil prices that have greatly inflated the government fuel subsidy.
Radio stations are now allowed to broadcast 24 hours a day because they use less energy than TV stations, while pay-TV stations have been exempted from the limited broadcast times because customers are paying for 24-hour service.
The decree has drawn strong criticism from a number of different parties, with critics calling the decree government intervention in the public's freedom and right to information.
The new decree, No. 12/2005, stipulates that local TV stations will be allowed to stay on the air 24 hours a day in the event of emergency situations, such as natural disasters.
In addition, the new decree also allows local TV stations to air live broadcasts from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. if the stations signed a contract with a third party before the decree was issued.
The new decree will be effective for five months and is subject to revision based on further developments in the country's energy crisis.
The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) said the decree violated the independence of the media.
It said the decree could be viewed as a return of the repressive measures of the New Order regime, when the information ministry was authorized to intervene in the operation of the media.
The KPI said the government should have simply called on broadcast stations to minimize energy consumption, while leaving the details up to the stations themselves.