Challenges to Local TV in Indonesia from Digitisation

And the final speaker in this COMNEWS 2023 session is Setio Budi H. Hutomo, whose interest is in the digitisation of local television in Indonesia, and its impact on democratic processes. This system was affected by the 2002 broadcasting bill, which introduced private, community, and subscription broadcasting in addition to public service media. This has an impact especially also on local media, including local television.

There is a limited number of major media groups in Indonesia, which also dominate the TV advertising market. Local TV does not capture much of this spending, and the more than 300 local television stations can therefore not compete with the major channels in terms of content quality and diversity. Only 67 these stations are part of the Local Television Association in Indonesia.

Digitisation further complicates the picture; analogue TV broadcasts are being switched off in Indonesia, causing switching costs and changing the structure and broadcast licencing frameworks of the industry. Can local TV successfully migrate to digital broadcast?

This also complicates the audience question; audiences for digital content are more focussed on social media and global television and streaming channels. There is also further competition on advertising funding, of course.