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Jakarta Post

Global seeks investors for pay TV business

Publicly listed media conglomerate Global Mediacom has said that it is currently in talks with a number of foreign investors who have expressed interest in acquiring a 20 percent stake in its new subsidiary that was created to oversee its pay television and internet businesses

Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post)
Sat, June 25, 2016

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Global seeks investors for pay TV business

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ublicly listed media conglomerate Global Mediacom has said that it is currently in talks with a number of foreign investors who have expressed interest in acquiring a 20 percent stake in its new subsidiary that was created to oversee its pay television and internet businesses.

Global Mediacom director David Fernando Audy said there were four investors who had expressed their interest in investing in the company’s newly established Sky Vision Network (SVN).

“We don’t have a deadline of when the sales should be completed. We, however, know the valuation of the company should be very high, considering the promising businesses [under its purview],” David told reporters at the Indonesian Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Publicly listed Global Mediacom is part of MNC Corporation, a diversified conglomerate owned by politically wired businessman Hary Tanoesoedibjo. Global Mediacom established SVN as a holding company to manage its pay TV and broadband businesses, run under MNC Sky Vision (MNC Sky) and MNC Kabel Mediakom (MKM), respectively.

MNC Sky manages three brands — Indovision, OkeVision and TopVision — while MKM runs the Play Media brand.

David said Play Media currently had 70,000 subscribers. The firm expects to have more than 100,000 subscribers by year-end.

Play Media, with a US$24 per month subscription fee, boasts internet speeds of 200 megabits per second with features that include playback of programs from its 174 channels within seven days of their first broadcast.

Play Media subscriptions have so far contributed roughly 40 percent to SVN’s total revenue.

“However, subscribtion-based Internet services have experienced faster growth via word-of-mouth marketing. People need speedier data. In two to three years, Play Media could account for up to 50 percent of [SVN’s] revenue,” David said.

While MNC Sky and MKM expand their businesses by further expanding capital by seeking foreign investment, another Global Mediacom subsidiary, Media Nusantara Citra (MNC), which runs four major television stations, RCTI, MNC Channel, Global TV and iNews, has completed the development of a number of buildings to support the stations’ production flow and operation integration.

MNC finance director Faisal Dharmasetiawan said the firm had allocated US$700 million to build the 16-story MNC News Center in Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta and a studio in Kebon Jeruk in West Jakarta as well as regular building and equipment maintenance. Most of the capital is being sourced from internal cash and the rest from existing loan facilities worth $250 million approved in the past.

The MNC Tower will be used for iNews while the Kebon Jeruk studio for RCTI, MNC Channel and Global TV.

Faisal refused to disclose the company’s annual revenue target amid a business environment in which recovery in the media industry has only been partial.

However, in the first quarter, the firm saw its revenue grow by 1.3 percent to Rp 1.53 trillion ($114.7 million) and profit surge by 68.1 percent to Rp 479.5 billion thanks to a 7 percent increase in advertisement income to Rp 1.4 trillion and a stronger rupiah, leading to fewer US dollar loans.

MNC stock coded “MNCN” is sold at Rp 2,200 apiece, down by 2.22 percent on Thursday while its parent Global Mediacom stock “BMTR” stood still at Rp 965 on the same day.

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