Lativi renamed tvOne, plans IPO in mid-2008

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The consortium of four companies that acquired PT Lativi Media Karya which runs Lativi television station, has decided to rename the channel tvOne, and has announced plans to sell its shares through an initial public offering (IPO) in mid-2008.

President director Erick Thohir said Wednesday that the name would officially change on Thursday.

"We are aiming to shift our target market, as well as change the mindset of Indonesian TV viewers. According to our research, the younger generation are the most potential market segment for us. It says that some 56 percent of Indonesians are under 35 years-old," Erick said.

Lativi, which was previously owned by Latief Corporation, is now 49 percent controlled by PT Visi Media Asia, 31 percent owned by Redal Semesta, 10 percent by Good Response Ltd., and 10 percent by Promise Result Ltd.

tvOne director of finance Charlie Kasim said that in order to generate funds, the station would sell some of its shares through an IPO mid-2008.

"It is estimated that tvOne would need between Rp 1.3 and 1.4 trillion for its operations until 2009, including the establishment of numerous overseas bureaus," Charlie said.

tvOne director of news, sports and production Sukarni Ilyas said the station planned to build several overseas bureaus.

"For the time being, we have already one established in Malaysia. Hopefully, we will soon establish more bureaus in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia," he said.

Commenting on the vision and mission of the station, Sukarni said tvOne was aiming to revolutionize the mainstream TV industry in Indonesia.

tvOne channel's programs would be dominated -- around 70 percent -- by information, ranging from straight news, in depth stories, documentaries and features to talk shows. The rest would include sports shows, entertainment, films and quizzes.

"This is our response to mounting complaints from TV viewers on the poor quality of Indonesian TV content, which is currently packed with vulgarism and mystique shows," he said. (uwi)