'RCTI' to have powerful new tower

'RCTI' to have powerful new tower

JAKARTA (JP): TV viewers in the Greater Jakarta area and those
residing in the northern part of West Java will get a clear
reception of RCTI following the completion of a powerful 275-
meter tower next year.

According to Ralie Siregar, executive director of the
Indonesian first privately owned television station, the tower,
with a capacity of 120 kilowatts, is expected to be completed in
April 1996.

RCTI currently broadcasts its programs through a 60-kilowatt
tower at its headquarters in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, leaving
some of its viewers with poor RCTI pictures on their televisions.

"The new tower is 25 meters shorter than the Eiffel Tower,"
Siregar told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.

The tower is being constructed close to the old one, he said,
but gave no information on the cost.

During the press meeting, Siregar also announced that RCTI,
which already has 20 relay stations, started the trial-run
operation of its new relay stations in 10 cities yesterday in an
attempt to dominate the airwaves of the archipelago.

The new 10 relay stations are located in Lhokseumawe,
Pekanbaru, Bandar Lampung and Padang in Sumatra, Cirebon,
Purwokerto, Pekalongan and Kediri in Java, Ampenan in West Nusa
Tenggara and Samarinda in East Kalimantan.

"Insya Allah (God willing), we'll operate eight other relay
stations in the middle of next year," said Alex Kumara, RCTI
director of operation, who accompanied Siregar at the press
meeting.

The stations will be built at Banda Aceh, Jambi and Bengkulu
in Sumatra, Garut, Cilegon and Jember in Java, Palangkaraya in
Central Kalimantan and Kendari in Sulawesi.

The first 20 relay stations, already operated by the six-year
old broadcast company, are located in almost all big cities and
important towns, including Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang, Solo,
Yogyakarta, Ambon, Jayapura, Denpasar, Manado, Ujungpandang,
Medan, Palembang, Kupang, Batam, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Malang,
Palu, Cirebon and Cilegon.

According to Siregar, the cost of relay stations ranges
between Rp 500 million (US$219,780) and Rp 2 billion each.

Data shows that only the government-owned station TVRI has
enough relay stations nationwide to cover 80 percent of
Indonesia's territory.

The other four private televisions, TPI, SCTV, AN teve and
Indosiar, broadcast their programs in different ways. Unlike the
other three companies, which only have few relay stations due to
limited budgets, currently TPI relays its TV programs using the
TVRI stations.

In line with the trial-out operation of its new relay
stations, RCTI also increased the power capacity of the exist
stations, such as those in Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang, Medan,
and Denpasar.

According to Alex, the expansion program of the company in the
past few years has led a large number of viewers in neighboring
countries being able to watch RCTI programs, including those
about Indonesia's culture.

Reports show that RCTI programs can be viewed via antenna disc
by people in Singapore, Johor (Malaysia), Taipei, Northern
Australia, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea, Alex said. (bsr)