MoE has the option to make it permanent as DidikTV starts airing today

by PRIYA VASU / pic by BERNAMA

MEDIA Prima Bhd’s revamp of NTV7 into education channel “DidikTV” has been structured for one year with the option to make it permanent, said sources close to the matter.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) will be providing a coordinated education programme with the broadcaster (NTV7) providing airtime and studios facilities for education-centric content creation and recordings.

Details of the deal between MoE and Media Prima remain loose, but sources said if the arrangement fits well within MoE’s future budget to financially support NTV7 for the long term, DidikTV will be here to stay.

DidikTV starts airing today and is part of the government’s response to the disruption in schooling brought by the Covid-19 pandemic since last year.

“The government will use the station on a temporarily paid basis as an instructional television to facilitate distance education for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia curriculum and co-curriculum students all over the country,” a source told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).

Over 10,000 schools, consisting of public preschool, primary and secondary, were ordered to close for in-person teaching due to the Covid-19-induced Movement Control Order, which affected some 4.7 million students nationwide.

The source also corrected the general misperception that the TV channel is headed for a complete closure.

“All the existing staff with NTV7 will continue to carry out their designated responsibilities as usual. However, the content on the channel, which used to be a wide variety of entertainment, talk shows and current affairs programmes, will be narrowed to only education material,” explained the source.

The introduction of a fully rebranded NTV7 as a dedicated educational terrestrial TV channel is an extension of the DidikTV@ ntv7 programme introduced by MoE in November 2020.

“In the past MoE has indeed sponsored many educational contents on Media Prima’s TV channels. As such, this decision isn’t surprising at all,” added the source.

MoE is a longstanding clientele of Media Prima in the past, with paid and sponsored media content often aired across its TV networks. According to a statement issued by Media Prima to TMR, there has been no change to the ownership of the TV station.

“DidikTV KPM is a strategic collaboration between Media Prima and MoE that aims to increase the access of quality education to students nationwide, given Media Prima’s extensive reach within Malaysia and proven capability in producing quality content,” the company said.

An executive media industry analyst said regardless of the nature of the deal between Media Prima and MoE, it is expected to reflect positively on the former’s earnings this year.

“The main reason for Media Prima to do this is not to make a one-off profit, but to reduce the cash drain the channel caused for Media Prima. The viewership share for NTV7 is only about 2% audience of Media Prima’s networks,” said the analyst from a local brokerage.

He added that NTV7 was never a profitable entity since acquisition of the channel with its TV advertisement expenditure only making up 6% of Media Prima’s total every year.

Based on NTV7’s financial report for the year ended Dec 31, 2017, the tv station suffered a loss of RM55.3 million with Media Prima, as the holding company, providing financial support to enable NTV7 to meet its liabilities.

Media Prima’s shares surged some 7.5% yesterday from 40 sen to 43 sen, with the stock price advancing 126% in the past one year. In the past five days alone, the media group’s share price has risen by 19% from 34 sen on Feb 10.

NTV7 was launched on April 7, 1998, by businessman Tan Sri Mohd Effendi Norwawi as Natseven TV Sdn Bhd and headquartered at Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park in Shah Alam, Selangor. It also had a studio in Kuching, Sarawak.

In 2005, Media Prima acquired NTV7 for RM90 million, effectively making the TV channel one of its subsidiaries, along with three other private television stations under its wing — TV3, 8TV and TV9.

In 2016, NTV7 introduced teleshopping block broadcast with Korean conglomerate CJ Group through subsidiary CJ E&M Co Ltd called CJ WOW Shop.

It was later rebranded in 2020 as Wow Shop after Media Prima bought the remaining 49% stake in the teleshopping network previously held by CJ Group.