This document is downloaded from DR-NTU, Nanyang Technological University Library, Singapore.

Transcription

1 This document is downloaded from DR-NTU, Nanyang Technological University Library, Singapore. Title Socio-economic impact of broadcast satellite : an Indonesian experience Author(s) Djafar H Assegaff Citation Djafar, H. A. (1990). Socio-economic impact of broadcast satellite : an Indonesian experience. In AMIC-DEPPEN Seminar on the Socio-economic Impact of Broadcast Satellites in the Asia-Pacific Region : Jakarta, Jul 25-27, Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research & Information Centre. Date 1990 URL Rights

2 Socio-Economic Impact Of Broadcast Satellite : An Indonesian Experience By Djafar H Assegaff Paper No.4

3 P: n-1/90 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BROADCAST SATELLITE AN INDONESIAN EXPEPJENCE J BY Drs, DJAFAR H. ASSEGAFF INDONESIAN NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALIST SEMINAR ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BROADCAST SATELLITES IN THE ASLA-PACIFIC REGION JAKARTA: INDONESLA JULY 1990 DEFPEN RI - A2\IIC

4 THE SOS10-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BROADCAST SATELLITES An Indonesian Experience Djafar H. Assegaff Director Dr. Soetomo Press Institute Introduction : Indonesia was the first Southeast Asian country to operate a communication satellite. The wish to possess its own satellite was prompted by the nations aspiration to strengthen unity in a country that consists of no less than 22,000 islands. Indonesia's satellite was righteously given the name "Palapa" to honour a prominent statesman of the ancient kingdom of Majaparnt who swore he would forge the Indonesian islands into one nation. The name Palapa therefoce constitutes a symbol of unity and serves to reinforce present-day Indonesia's "Wawasan Nusantara" or archipelagic concept. Palapa is a communication satelite although part of its transponders is being used for television broadcasts. The state television network, TVRI, is renting 2 of Palapa's transponders. One transponder is actively used for television broadcasts and the other help is reserved as a back-up. Originally the satellite was also intended to facilitate educational radio broadcasting and educational 1

5 television broadcasting. This intention, however, never materialized because of the prohibitive cost involved it in operating the project for which funds are too difficult to obtain. The sosio-economic impact of broadcast satellites : Elaborating or. the socio-economic impact of broadcast satellites, as far as Indonesia's experience is concerned, a clear distinction oetween 2 categories of impact should be made. These are : 1. The impact of the content of ^he broadcasts;and 2. The economic and financial "impact. Impact of the contents of broadcasts : By making use of Palapa transponders TVRI greatly widened the reach of its broadcasts. Today TVRI broadcasts can be received in nearly 30 percent of the country's territorial surface. Accordingly TVRI is a medium commanding by far the largest audience in the country. Based on avai'able figures on the number of people in possesion of a television set, TVRI has an audience of no less than 80 mi 1 lion people. Apart from programs produced at its national centre in Jakarta that are relayed across most of the country by regional stations, TV viewing public in the provinces also receive programs produced by TVRI stasions based in 2

6 the respective regions. TVRI today has 8 regional stations/studios. They are located in : 1. Medan, North Sumatera 2. Palembang, South Sumatera 3. Bandung, West Java 4. Yogyakarta (Special District, Central Java) 5. Surabaya, East Java 6. Denpasar, Bali 7. Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi 8. Manado, North Sulawesi These regional stations automatically relay certain partions of the programs produced by TVRI's centre in Jakarta such as news of the day, commentaries and special features on national development, including farmer group meetings. Dispite a great deal of public criticism is still being voiced about their contents, TVRI programs, including those conveying development-related messages, exert a very strong impact. Among the programs having a direct socio-economic effect on the public are : 1. programs on agriculture 2. programs on family planning 3. economic feature 4. government announcement on economic policy. 3

7 These programs generally generate new economic aspirations among the public. They also keep people informed about economic developments in the modern world. Programs on meetings of farmer contact groups are very popuier among farmers throughout the country although critics say they often give more prominence to personages in the bureaucracy rather than to the farmers themselves. TVRI programs also act as a strong-albeit indirectstimulus to productive and commercial activity. Entertainment programs, for instance, are a great inducement to the trade in music cassettes even in remote parts of the country. Programs showing modern life-styles have a similar effect on the trends in the day-to-day ways of living such as clothing, while programs on agriculture indirectly promote the use of such things as insecticides among rural farmers. Economic and financial impact : At the time Palapa satellite was launched, nobody had a fair idea of the economic and financial consequences a communication satellite would entail. The cost of acquiring the satellites and renting its transponders was relatively small. But it turned out that to bring the entire territory of Indonesia within the reach of television broadcasts, enormous amount of 4

8 investments were required. To enable television broadcasts to cover all of the country through satellite, relay stations had to be set up, and this proved costly. At present about 20 percent of Indonesia's territory still constitutes "blank spots", namely places that remain outside the reach of national television signals. Meanwhile many regions had no other choice than to raise funds from their own resources to install an earth station to relay centrally broadcast television programs. Today there are more than 200 relay stations or small earth stations in Indonesia to receive and rebroadcast centrally produced television programs. The cost is between 5Q0 million and one billion rupiahs, or 250,000 to 500,000 US dollars, to install a small earth station in Indonesia. One can thus easily calculate the amount of investment that has gone into the construction of all the existing earth stations in this country, not to speak of the costs of their ma"! ntenance. As an illustration of how provincial governments go about acquiring an earth station, let me tell you about the case of West Kalimantan. The West Kalimantan provincial administration a few weeks ago decided to appropriate 550 million rupiahs from its income to set up a television relay station in the Nanga Pinon district, a 5

9 place about 400 kilometers from Pontianak, the provincial capital. After an earth station has been set up, there will eventually be the cost of maintaining the facillity. According to figures collected by experts at Bappenas (Indonesia's Nasional Development Planning Agency) a relay station's maintenance takes 30 to 50 million rupiahs a year. This amount is required to the cost of a crew of at least 3 people, fuel to cover operate a diesei power generator and miscellaneous servicing expenditures. These figures provide us with an idea of the huge amount of money that has to be spent each year to keep the national television system operating at constant standard..the amount of money has been roughly put at 6 billion rupiahs or 3 million US dollars a year, namely the total number of existing relay stations multiplied by the minimum amount of maintenance cost which is 30 million rupiahs a year. The above figure does not yet include the cost of long-term maintenance and replacement of parts which normally has to be done once every five years. Among these long-term maintenance needs are the periodic painting of antennaes and replacement parts of the power generators. 6

10 An alternative : Satellite technology today has advanced to an extent that satellites with much greater capability are now available. In fact many countries already possess Direct Broadcasting Satellite (DBS). They include Japan, Australia, the United States and a number of European countries. These latest developments in satellite technology provide the possibility of conducting television broadcasting via satellite at a much reduced cost in terms of investment and maintenance of earth-based equipment. The reduction in cost for the maintenance of earth-based equipment would make it possible for the country concerned to save on these expenditures and use these savings to improve the quality of television programs. With these savings it might even be possible eventually to begin developing educational television. A possible constraint might arise from the fact that under a DBS system individual television subscribers would have to bear increased costs. They have to buy extra equipment such as dish antennaes etc. The question arises whether the majority of the population of Indonesia will be able to afford these extra expenditures. On the other hand, it is also a fact that the market price of this kind of equipment tends to go down with the passage of time. In other words, it might 7

11 well be that they will soon be quite within the buying power of most people in Indonesia. One immediate and definite advantage of the DBS system, however, is that it will enable the government to discard the costly relay stations and replace them with community antennas which are much less expensive to mai ntai n. Cone!usion : This paper does not profess to offer a sure and easy solution to the problem of television broadcasting via satellite. It is merely an observer's attempt to bring into focus the economic impact or consequences Indonesia has to face from maintaining its present television broadcasting system. Permit me now to summarize my paper in the following points : 1. The economic impact of maintaining a broadcast satellite can be viewed from 2 aspects : a. The aspect of program content and its impact on the people's economy; b. The economic and financial aspect. It is apparent that conducting television broadcasts by communication satellite entails huge investments and expenditure for maintenance. 2. ^resent day satellite technology offers a new poc-si bi 1 i ty, namely broadcast satellites possessing 8

12 greater transmission capability and requiring less expensive earth-based equipment. This new possibility means smaller investment and maintenance expenditures. 3. Rural communities unable to purchase small dish antennas can have the benefits of community antennas installed by the Government using provincial funds or rural community funds. 4. The use of broadcast satellites will save funds previously used to cover maintenance costs, and these savings could be spent on increasing the quality and quantity of television programs. 5. Educational television which will benefit secondary schools in far-flung places can begin to be implemented. Educational television would also greatly improve the quality of school instruction and help to close the quality-gap between big-city and rural schools. I hope that what I have put across in this short paper will help to provoke lively and fruitful discussion of the advent of broadcast satellites and their use in developing countries. Thank you. Jakarta, July 20,