Sky Vision offers VOD to lure new customers

JAKARTA. Indonesia’s largest pay-TV provider PT MNC Sky Vision (MSKY) is set to introduce new technology platforms that will enable its customers to enjoy its services anywhere and to play back programs they may have missed.

Following a shareholders meeting on Tuesday, MSKY president director Rudijanto Tanoesoedibjo said that his company planned to launch the technology platforms, named Indovision Everywhere and video on demand (VOD), in June. 

The technology is aimed at helping the company gain a bigger share in the country’s highly competitive pay-TV market.

Indovision Everywhere will allow subscribers to access programs anywhere and anytime, as long as they have an internet connection. 

VOD, meanwhile, will make it possible for subscribers to play programs from up to 400 hours earlier.

MSKY independent director Effendi Budiman said after the meeting that the company would spend US$80 million this year. 

From the total capital expenditure, $60 million would be used to buy sets of decoders, while the remaining $20 million would be allocated to technology and systems development, including Indovision Everywhere and VOD, he said.

“We will get $30 million from our internal cash, while the other $50 million will be from our syndicated banks, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank,” he said. 

Effendi said his firm would also launch several new channels, targeted particularly at households, to attract more new subscribers across the archipelago.

MSKY currently operates 118 channels through its pay-TV options, consisting of Indovision, which is targeted at the middle class, as well as Top TV and Okevision, which are targeted at the low-middle class.

The firm currently has transponders with a total capacity of 160 channels. 

Effendi said that Indovision subscribers made up 51 percent of Sky Vision’s current total of 2.4 million subscribers, followed by Top TV and Okevision, which made up 34 percent and 15 percent, respectively. 

He said that MSKY aimed to increase its market share to 75 percent this year by targeting 600,000 new subscribers, meaning its total number of subscribers could stand at between 2.9 and 3 million by 
year-end.

MSKY secured 74 percent of Indonesia’s total 3 million pay-TV subscribers last year, according to a recent report by Media Partners Asia. 

Effendi added that his firm aimed to book a 30 percent increase in revenue this year, up from Rp 3.02 trillion ($261.49 million) last year, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to stay at around 40 percent of the targeted revenue. 

The company posted a 26.4 percent growth in revenue last year, from Rp 2.39 trillion in the previous year. 

It suffered Rp 487 million in losses last year due to foreign exchange losses amounting to Rp 636 billion, according to the firm’s 2013 annual report.

Effendi said, however, that the firm still booked Rp 105 billion in net profits if the foreign exchange loss was excluded.