Who's behind local TV industry now?

Luas Samudera, Contributor, Jakarta

Indonesian television stations are taking new shape in terms of ownership with established stations currently taking the lead in making newspapers headlines. The changes raise questions over who is controlling the industry now, questions that need more than a calculated guess.

The first is Indosiar, the country's front runner station. Forty-nine percent of its shares were sold at the end of last year by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to PT TDM Aset Manajemen.

Skeptics suspect former owner Salim group is behind the firm which was set up only three months before taking over majority ownership of Indosiar. The firm paid a total of Rp 755 billion (US$75.5 million), or Rp 775 per share.

IBRA, under its subsidiary PT Holdiko Perkasa which controls all assets of conglomerate Salim group, still holds 8.26 percent shares of the station. PT Prima Visualindo holds 27.74 percent of the shares, and 15 percent is owned by the public.

The ailing ANteve is reported to have been totally sold to Capital Management Asia from former shareholders PT Bakrie Investindo (60 percent) and PT Hasmuda Internusa (40 percent) in March 2002.

Spokesperson Soraya Perucha said CMA is a consortium of several local companies, but she refused to unveil the total investment involved in the deal.

She said the station was facing a difficult period with a total debt of 1.2 trillion rupiah ($120 million). Earlier this year the station lost a blocking agreement with MTV Asia which moved to a new station Global TV.

What will be the future of ANteve under the new owner? It's too early to tell as the firm is still struggling with a huge debt restructuring process. Three foreign investment banks from South Korea and UK are among creditors of ANteve for bonds worth $70 million including interest.

Meanwhile, third-ranking station SCTV's new holding company PT Surya Citra Media (SCM) is expected to follow the path of Indosiar to sell some 20 percent of its shares in June.

SCM expects to cash in Rp 300 billion ($30 million) to build facilities (office building and studios) and for business expansion of SCTV.

SCM shares owners with SCTV, businessman Henry Pribadi and president Soeharto's cousin Sudwikatmono. Their new partners are from PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi (EMTEK), Eddy Sariaatmadja and Fofo Sariaatmadja.

Eddy Sariaatmadja is a business associate of Australian Singleton Group's chairman Mark Carnegie and a chairman of a consortium, PT Abhimata Mediatama, which owns over 40 percent shares in SCTV.

The other owner of SCM is Datakom Asia, formerly a giant media group -- controlling anything from newspapers, radio stations, cyber media, pay-TV, cable TV content provider, free TV to satellite operator -- set up by former media mogul Peter F. Gontha. Gontha has lost his control over media group Datakom to listed Bhakti Investama's chairman Hary Tanoesoedibjo.

A source said, however, that Datakom had also given up its ownership in SCTV recently to PT Abhimata Mediatama to make SCTV IPO plans smoother.

Losing SCTV hasn't reduced Hary's appetite for the television industry. Bhakti Investama is pouring its energy into its television business under its Bimantara holding company. Under a shareholders' meeting in early May, Hary was appointed president director of Bimantara.

Bhakti is one of the major Bimantara shareholders with 21.68 percent ownership. However, sources said Hary acted as a proxy for former Bimantara major owner, the son of president Soeharto Bambang Trihatmojo (22.45 percent) from PT Asriland, making him the de facto major shareholder.

Earlier this year, under its subsidiary, PT Panca Aneka Selaras, Bimantara acquired 70 percent shares of new free TV licensee Global-TV. Two other stations, RCTI (69.8 percent) and Metro-TV (25 percent), are already under Bimantara's arm.

The appointment of Hary is expected by many to make another change in the management of RCTI. Hary's appointee, former SCTV finance director, Budi Sutjiawan, who is now vice president of RCTI and director of direct-to-home (DTH) platform Indovision of Datakom Asia, is tipped to become RCTI's president director, a source said.

But, will the changes of ownership change the course of the Indonesian television industry? Only time will tell.