'RCTI' and Indosat sign World Cup TV deal

'RCTI' and Indosat sign World Cup TV deal

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Commercial Director of Indosat Guntur Siregar and Executive
Director of the private television station RCTI Wisnu Hadi signed
here on Saturday a US$110,000 cooperation contract, which would
enable RCTI to transmit live broadcasts of the 2002 FIFA World
Cup matches in Japan and South Korea by utilizing Indosat's TV
Link digital network.

"The Indosat TV Link digital network provides a medium through
which a television station is able to present in real time to its
viewers in Indonesia a live event that is taking place in a
different part of the world," Guntur Siregar said.

He stated that the digitized Indosat TV Link provided better
audio and video quality than the analog system. The higher
compression ratio of the digital system would also require less
satellite bandwidth and ultimately reduce the transmission cost.

"We will work hand-in-hand with our counterparts in South
Korea and Japan, Korea Telecom and KDD, to provide seamless
transmission services to RCTI. Indosat also has an undersea
fiber-optic cable network as a backup system in case the
satellite-based network experiences any problems," Guntur Siregar
said.

Separately, Wisnu Hadi stated that RCTI had prepared various
World Cup-related on-air programs, such as quizzes, news, soccer
team profiles, world cup history and several off-air activities
to pamper its viewers during the course of the 2002 World Cup,
from May 31 through June 30.

"We will allocate an average of eight hours per day for
broadcasting cup matches. Four hours in the afternoon will be a
live broadcast of two matches, and another four hours before dawn
will be a delayed broadcast," Wisnu told.

RCTI, which spent $5 million to secure the exclusive rights to
be Indonesia's official 2002 FIFA World Cup TV station, is
preparing to send up to 20 reporters and cameramen to Japan and
South Korea, the two countries cohosting the event.