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Red tape, low ad sales hinder local TV station development
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Activists stage a peaceful rally against the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission’s (KPI) lack of response to complaints over the quality of TV programs in Jakarta, recently.
(Tempo/-)
I
n response to criticism of local TV programs, an association chairman has said that local stations are struggling due to a lack of ad sales and human resources.
Indonesia Local TV Association (ATVLI) chairman Jimmy Silalahi said that local stations lacked development on account of the domination of nationally broadcast, privately owned channels, despite a 2002 law on broadcasting banning such channels.
"Creating good programming requires a lot of money and manpower, meanwhile most local TV stations are short of advertisements due to a limited share of the audience. The government doesn’t treat local stations fairly," he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Bureaucracy is an additional problem local stations faced, he further said. Before securing an operational permit, local stations must operate under a principal license for years, resulting in high broadcasting costs.
"Our members have to wait between five and even 10 years to get a license," Jimmy said, adding that local stations had to create programming with local governments to survive, mostly cheap offline programs, syndicating with other TV stations.
According to the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), local station operations were far from optimal, with a low average broadcasting time of around two-and-a-half hours a day and a broadcasting range below 60 percent. Workers received low pay and only one-fifth of ad slots were filled.
"They air traditional alternative medicine ads, which are actually not registered with the Health Ministry. Furthermore, local programming often features mystical scenes and violence," Agatha Lily, KPI commissioner , said. (ags)
