Last week, we had known that Malaysia former ruling party UMNO is going to sell its stake in Media Prima. Then, few years ago Media Prima suffered huge loss revenue since 2014.
From 2018 onwards, all TV9 programs were end and filled by CJ Wow Shop TV shopping block when Media Prima attempted to rebrand NTV7 as Modern Malaysian channel, but ntv7 rebranding movement seemed unsuccessful due to low rating when came to end of 2018.
Due to unsuccessful rebranding of ntv7, from 2019, ntv7 is filled by CJ Wow Shop, but in Mandarin Chinese. From what I understand, Media Prima launches CJ Wow Shop on ntv7 (in Chinese) and TV9 (Malay) is to cover their loss revenue.
In my opinion, Media Prima shall close all analogue TV transmission as soon as possible because their TV stations are available for digital transmission. Media Prima also pays transmission fees to MYTV for digital terrestrial television, then the company still pays transmission fees to Telekom Malaysia for analogue terrestrial television, so Media Prima already pays double fees. Rather than paying duplicate transmission fees to TM for analogue TV, all their TV stations analogue transmitters must be shutdown.
TV3 and 8TV have better performance within Media Prima Television Networks, meanwhile ntv7 and TV9 recent performances are poor. If ntv7 and TV9 cannot gain revenue back via CJ Wow Shop, I suggest Media Prima to dispose ntv7 and TV9 to save operation costs.
When talk about disposal of NTV7 and TV9, simply dispose will not cover the revenue, but it is better to sell them to new party from Media Prima. For Malaysia TV companies, most of them may not interest to acquired these two disposed TV stations due to new company direction.
Our neighboring country, Singapore has famous broadcaster, known as MediaCorp. This company is quite successful in Singapore, Channel 5 and Channel 8 are the longest and most famous TV stations in Singapore.
Singapore kids and sports TV channel OKTO will be merged into Channel 5 since 1st May 2019. In Malaysia, the merger also happens for Media Prima. Technically, TV9 and NTV7 Malay contents were merged to TV3, meanwhile NTV7 Chinese contents were merged to 8TV.
Actually MediaCorp can expand its business to Malaysia by opening Malaysia branch, this can produce high quality content with its Singapore branch for Malaysia. For poor performance Media Prima TV channels, if these channels cannot survive with CJ Wow Shop within 3 years, what I suggest is Media Prima need to dispose NTV7 and TV9 and sell to MediaCorp Malaysia instead in terms of business deal between two companies.
If Media Prima sells NTV7 and TV9 to Astro, I don't think Astro is interesting to acquire them because both companies' license conditions are different. Astro is pay TV, meanwhile Media Prima is free-to-air TV CASP license holder.
If MediaCorp opens Malaysia branch, it may call as "MediaCorp Sdn Bhd". Same theory like Channel 5 famous drama, Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd in Singapore, but when Phua Chu Kang made drama in Malaysia with joint venture between Channel 5 and NTV7 around 2010, the drama was known as Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd.
Imagine if "MediaCorp Sdn Bhd" acquires ntv7 and TV9 from Media Prima, the Singapore based company may not retain the TV stations name, instead MediaCorp will fully rebrand the stations in order to produce high quality programs from Malaysia and Singapore.
In Singapore, MediaCorp has Vasantham for Indian community, but Malaysia has no free-to-air Tamil TV stations, it may feel unfair to Malaysia Indians.
By the way, here is my suggestion of rebranding channels if MediaCorp acquires NTV7 and TV9:
- NTV7>> English and Malay TV channel (Channel 7?)
- TV9>> Chinese and Tamil TV channel (Channel 9?)
Then, MediaCorp can produce "Crimewatch Malaysia" on either NTV7 or TV9.
Talk about logo, Channel 7 and Channel 9 will look like Singapore based Channel 5 and 8.
In conclusion, the suggestion regarding acquisition of NTV7 and TV9 from Media Prima by MediaCorp Malaysia may benefit both companies. First, Media Prima will not feel burden much of handling TV stations, mainly content and operation. Second, acquisition by MediaCorp for NTV7 and TV9 will create more competition in Malaysia free-to-air TV industry.
Nice suggestion, but I am afraid that Malaysian FTA TV cannot sustain channels with significant English content anymore, let alone a full-fledged English channel. Just see what happened to 8TV's urban belt in 2016, now it's a full-fledged Chinese channel. People who like English shows will go for streaming nowadays, and have given up traditional TV long ago. In Hong Kong, there have been calls to remove the mandatory English channel requirement for FTA TV operators on similar grounds.
ReplyDeleteMoving forward, focus has to be on the Malay heartland where the broadband infra is still not good enough to supplant traditional broadcast networks. And I am told that heartland Malays don't watch English/foreign language content so much, this is why some English channels on Astro have Malay audio option, such as HBO and Discovery Channel.
I agree, all Media Prima TV and Radio channels will be hand over to Mediacorp Malaysia and here the all Media Prima TV channels new name:
ReplyDeleteMediacorp Suria Malaysia (formerly known as TV3): An 24 hour Mass Malay entertainment channel.
Mediacorp Channel 5 Malaysia (formerly known as NTV7): An 24 hour Mass English entertainment channel.
Mediacorp Channel U Malaysia (formerly known as 8TV): An 20 hour Mass Chinese entertainment channel.
Mediacorp Channel 8 Malaysia (formerly known as TV9): An 18 hour Youth Chinese entertainment channel.
Question is, is full or majority foreign ownership of local media outlets allowed?
Deletedon't think so. MCMC only allow local operators
Delete