'SCTV' revamping image to get more viewers

JAKARTA (JP): The commercial television station Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV) is trying to attract more viewers in Jakarta in conjunction with its seventh anniversary yesterday.

SCTV, one of five private television stations in Indonesia, is also changing its image through new programs and a new logo, an executive said.

President Director Agus Mulyanto said Saturday the channel's image would no longer be so female focused.

A Rp 4 billion (US$1.63 million) relaunching project would offer "more tantalizing family entertainment," Agus said.

Vice President Peter Gontha said the commercial broadcaster, whose main station is in Surabaya, East Java, would move to the capital by early next year.

Agus said 60 percent of SCTV viewers were in Jakarta, followed by Bandung, West Java; Surabaya and Medan in North Sumatra.

"Basically, the strongest and largest audiences are in Jakarta," he said.

"Moving the main station and boosting our image with new energy are strategic moves for SCTV," Agus said, adding that Jakarta's high economic growth drew the largest advertising market.

Last year SCTV's advertising revenue was about Rp 130 billion. It spent Rp 1 billion on marketing.

Gontha said operation costs were too high in Surabaya. "All the skilled personnel are in Jakarta," he said.

SCTV's new base will be in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, where the RCTI channel is also located.

The channel's new blue slogan on a tangerine-colored background, Ngetop -- a popular Jakartan slang expression meaning being at the top -- were meant to personify "dynamic and energetic programs" that suited the metropolitan residents' way of life, Agus said.

Agus said, citing a recent study, that the station now ranked third after RCTI, or Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia, and Indosiar. He said SCTV ranked first for daytime hours.

The other competitors are commercial broadcasters TPI and ANTeve, and state-run TVRI, which bans commercials.

Gontha has shares in PT Datakom Asia, together with Bambang Trihatmodjo, leader of the Bimantara business group.

Datakom has stakes in SCTV, Indosiar and RCTI.

Gontha, whose company PT Media Citra Indostar's Indostar-1 satellite is to be launched on July 15 by Arianespace, said SCTV would use its Surabaya studios as a production base.

"We are aiming to rank second if not first," he said.

A media report by Zenith Media revealed last year that there was a television in only 40 percent of all homes in Indonesia. (10)