The story
Founded by Maladi on Aug 24, 1962, in Jakarta.1
1960–1975: The idea and initial broadcast
The initial idea to establish a television station in Indonesia was put forward by then Minister of Information Maladi as far as 1952. The argument at the time is that it would be useful for the socialization of the upcoming 1955 general election, but the idea was deemed as too expensive by the cabinet.
The plan to organize the first television broadcast finally began to materialize when in 1961, the Indonesian Government decided to include the television mass media project in the IV Asian Games development project under the IV Asian Games Project Affairs Command (KUPAG). On July 25, 1961, the Minister of Information issued Decree of the Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia (SK Menpen) No. 20/SK/M/1961 concerning the formation of the Television Preparatory Committee (P2TV). This institution is chaired by RM Soetarto, head of the State Film Directorate. Apart from Soetarto, there were also his representatives, namely RM Soenarjo and 7 committee members, and they worked together with the Ministry of Information to prepare television broadcasts in Indonesia. To learn more about television, the President then sent Soetarto to New York and Atlanta, United States.
On 23 October 1961 at 09.30, President Sukarno who was in Vienna, Austria sent a telex to Maladi to immediately prepare a television project with the following targets:
Building a studio at the former AKPEN (Information Academy) in Senayan, which is now the location of the LPP TVRI head office. This location was chosen because it was close to the Bung Karno Sports Arena, so it was more practical for broadcasting the Asian Games event. Before occupying this location, other locations that had been studied as TVRI studios included the PFN Jatinegara Building, the Topography Bureau Building, the RRI transmitter in Kebayoran, and several other places.
Built two transmitters: 100W and 10 kW with a tower 80 meters high. Built in the TVRI Senayan complex, initially this tower was planned to be above the Hotel Indonesia or the former Perfini Building. The second transmitter was completed on 22 August 1962 and was ready for operation a few hours before the start of the IV Asian Games.
Preparing the equipment (programs and personnel). Specifically, the equipment supply comes from NEC (Japan), after going through selection from other providers, such as Siemens (West Germany), RCA (United States), and Marconi (England). Apart from NEC, another Japanese company involved in the preparation of TVRI was NHK, which trained prospective employees and provided technical assistance for the broadcast. This training was carried out for TVRI employees who generally had no experience in television at that time, because they came from RRI, PFN, as well as ITB students.
On August 17, 1962, TVRI began conducting trial broadcasts of the 17th Indonesian Independence Day event from the grounds of the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, in black and white format and supported by a backup transmitter with a power of 100W. The TVRI broadcast complex was completed in less than a year and was inaugurated on 23 August 1962 by the chairman of P2TV.
TVRI was formed based on the Decree of the Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia No. 20/SK/VII/61, then it became part of the Bureau of Radio and Television under the Asian Games IV Organizing Committee for the IV Asian Games that year. TVRI broadcast its first test transmission on the Independence Day celebrations from the Merdeka Palace on 17 August 1962. TVRI went on air, airing the 1962 Asian Games opening ceremony on 24 August. Throughout the Games TVRI aired every event of the meet especially those involving Indonesian athletes; live broadcasts were held from the morning to evening and delayed broadcasts were held from 20:45 until 23:00 WIB when it signed off for the night. With TVRI's presence, Indonesia became the sixth country in eastern Asia to introduce television, behind Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, China and South Korea. During the Asian Games, Matsushita awarded a contract from the Indonesian Ministry of People's Industry for the installation of television sets, worth $3 million.
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TVRI began broadcasting advertisements starting March 1963. Later on 20 October, the Yayasan TVRI (TVRI Foundation) was formally created as the official governing authority for the station with President of Indonesia as chairman. The foundation experienced several changes and lasted until late 1990s.
Two years later, the first regional TVRI station opened in Yogyakarta. Later, many regional TVRI stations were opened, including stations and studios in Bandung, Semarang, Medan, Surabaya, Makassar, Manado, Batam, Palembang, Denpasar and Balikpapan. In the succeeding years, TVRI aired as a network carrying programming from Jakarta supplemented by opt-out broadcasts from the regional stations.
1975–1998: Under the New Order
In 1974, eight years after President Suharto took office, TVRI became a part of the Department of Information, with the status as a directorate. Its role was to inform the public about government policies. A year after, a decree instituted TVRI a dual status, as a part of the TVRI Foundation and a part of the directorate. In 1976, it began to be broadcast all over Indonesia via Palapa satellite.
The first colour television signal was transmitted via satellite transmission in 1979. The first colour news bulletins were Berita Nasional (National News), Dunia Dalam Berita (The World in News), breaking events segments on Laporan Khusus (Special Report) and Berita Terakhir (Latest News).
TVRI in the late 1970s and 1980s became a well-defined mass media component of the Department of Information, in early years it generating income from advertising slots. After enjoying income from advertisements for years, President Suharto in his speech abolished the advertisement on TVRI in 1981 in order to "better directing television to help the development programs and avoid negative effects that do not support the spirit of development". This policy would later be revoked after the reform era. In 1982 TVRI Tower was officially opened to broadcast a wider signal.
During the era, the government-backed TVRI progressively established television production studios and television stations in many provinces across the country. As of 1998, all provinces in Indonesia had their own TVRI regional station or production studio; including East Timor.
It was decided in February 1981 that television commercials were to be banned by April, with TVRI scheduled to lost 20 billion rupiahs ($64 million) a year. With the ban, TVRI eyed the creation of programming for rural audiences.
In the 1980s the decision was made to split TVRI into two channels - Channels 6 and 8 - the latter as a test service for Jakarta and West Java viewers as well as in other areas wherein network-produced programs and foreign imports would be shared between the two channels.
On the Channel 8 basis TVRI launched its second channel TVRI Programa Dua (TVRI Programme Two) in 1989 to attract the Jakartan urban audience, with a single English-language news program Six Thirty Report for half an hour that began at 18:30 WIB; later Programa Dua became a local channel under the name TVRI Jakarta. However, in the same year TVRI lost its monopoly when the government's sixth Five Year Plan allowed private television networks, channels, and stations to begin broadcasting, the first commercial television network being RCTI.
A fire broke out at TVRI's facilities in Jakarta on the early hours of 31 December 1985, accumulating US$2 million in losses. The blaze did not affect the playout, which was being held at a new studio in an adjacent facility. Suharto demanded an investigation about the causes.
In 1994, TVRI launched its teletext service TVRI-Text, in partnership with PT Pilar Kumalajaya, about four months after RCTI launched the first teletext in the country.
1998–2006: Transformation and restructurization
After the start of the reform era, especially in 2000, TVRI's status was changed. Under a service corporation (Perusahaan Jawatan or Perjan) form, it became responsible firstly to the Ministry of Finance and was then turned into a limited company under the authority of the State Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises for organizational matters and Ministry of Finance for financial matters. Under this arrangement, TVRI broadcasts in accordance with the principles of public television such as independent, neutral and public interest-oriented. Later in 2002, the status of TVRI changed again to a limited company (Perseroan Terbatas or PT), still under the two ministries.
The enactment of the Act No. 32/2002 on Broadcasting designated TVRI, along with RRI, as the public broadcasting institution (Lembaga penyiaran publik or LPP) and were removed from any direct governmental control. TVRI was given a transition period of 3 years from PT to public broadcasting form. The status then reaffirmed by Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah) No. 13/2005. TVRI officially became LPP on 18 March 2005.
2006–2019: Modernization and rebranding
Following the government's plan to introduce digital television in Indonesia, TVRI launched its digital broadcasting services on 21 December 2010. Initially launched in Jakarta, Surabaya and Batam; TVRI also launched two digital terrestrial channels, which were the first of its kind in Indonesia: TVRI 3 (currently TVRI World) and TVRI 4 (currently TVRI Sport). The launch was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tifatul Sembiring.
In 2017, the TVRI board of supervisors installed a well-known television figure, Helmy Yahya as the chief director and Apni Jaya Putra (former programming director at Kompas TV and employer of SCTV, RCTI and SUN TV) as the news and programming director. During the leadership of Helmy Yahya and Apni Jaya Putra, TVRI began to remodel its programming on a large scale.
On 29 March 2019, at the concert special Menggapai Dunia (Reaching the World), TVRI adopted its new logo as a part of the rebranding efforts. The new logo was actually decided to be released in the fourth quarter of 2018, but for several reasons, it was postponed to the end of March 2019. At the same time, all TVRI regional stations have changed their logo in front of their respective studios.
In August 2019, TVRI together with two national private networks (Metro TV and Trans7) and Ministry of Communication and Information Technology officially launched digital television broadcasts for border regions in Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan. With the launch, the government hoped that people in all regions of Indonesia can watch television with high quality.
A proposed new Broadcasting Act currently in the making, replacing Act No. 32/2002, would merge TVRI with RRI into RTRI (Radio Televisi Republik Indonesia, Radio [and] Television of the Republic of Indonesia).
2020–present: Recent developments
TVRI's improvements under Helmy were not continued in the era of his successor. TVRI seemed to have returned to its original essence, with its broadcasts barely noticed by television viewers, plus it was less agile in seizing digitalization opportunities. In terms of budget, TVRI also seemed not independent, continuing to rely on government funding. Efforts to diversify revenue also still did not show maximum performance, while having to be burdened with operating regional channels and stations. Nevertheless, TVRI's President Director Iman Brotoseno still believes that TVRI will become a "world-class broadcasting institution", with programs such as modernizing broadcast equipment, capacity building in human resources, plus the implementation of a Digital Broadcasting System in collaboration with the French government.
From Wikipedia’s article on TVRI, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4