BY NAZMI SUHAIMI & VOON YIH BOON
A dream realised at last — Sarawak has its first TV station premiering on Astro channel 122.
Despite the challenges of setting up a TV station with less than a few months to prepare for its on-air debut, Sarawak Media Group (SMG) chief executive officer and broadcast personality Suhaimi Sulaiman said TVS has a bright future ahead of it.
He said despite the saturated information hub that the social media world is today, there is a market for Sarawak-made content as it is relatable and relevant to the outside world.
Suhaimi said Sarawak and its people — talents and professionals — have untapped potential and that a state-owned TV station can leverage on those talents and at the same time offer a lifeline to Sarawak’s creative industry.
New Sarawak Tribune and sister daily Suara Sarawak sat down for an exclusive interview with SMG chief. Below are excerpts of the interview:
New Sarawak Tribune: “We inspire your world,” that is TVS’ new slogan, how is this translated in terms of the content produced by the station?
Suhaimi: We want our channel to be fresh and inspiring, there must be a reason for people to watch us. If we are just another TV station, no one will watch us. So, we want to be fresh and inspiring. When we draft a TV programme, we ask ourselves, is it fresh and inspiring? If it is not, we will re-edit. What is important, however, is that our content is relevant and relatable.
We are not only targeting Sarawak and the Peninsular Malaysia markets, we are also targeting the regional market. Our content is unique as it encompasses Sarawak elements. Back to our slogan, we strive to inspire the world of others as well as being a TV station, we also aim to inform, educate and entertain.
TVS premieres on Oct 10, how has the preparation been?
I have been training our TV presenters, to many of them this is their first time. We will have 40 anchors from our slots, they will be the new faces. Being a trainer, I have never seen a diverse makeup of people with various interests; what is good is that they are prepared to do this. Everyone is unique, some of them have PhD and Masters and they are very young. The anchors will not only be reading the news, they are also journalists, producers, graphic artists. I am proud of these talents and with that we already have 30 new programmes.
These programme will be done on a weekly basis?
Some will be done on a weekly and others on a daily basis. We will be broadcasting 24 hours a day and we will have fresh content from 6am until midnight. Of course, there will be reruns, but on a single day, we will have at least 10 hours of fresh content. Some of the programmes have six episodes and I think we are quite ready for it.
Many have asked, why is TVS being broadcast on Astro?
We have to start somewhere and now, there are a lot of people who are using Astro as their cable network. In Sarawak, 80 percent of the people have access to Astro. However, this is not the end of the world, we are also going on MyTV and we are working out the details.
For now, we are looking at the pricing, while I couldn’t say a specific date, I think we are almost there; we hope to get it done as soon as possible. Besides that, we are also available on other platforms as we are not available at home all the time. Our contents will also be available online. We are also uploading it to social media so that it is accessible anywhere.
TVS was set up previously due to lack of coverage for Sarawak. How will this be improved with the new TV station?
I think Sarawak’s story is very relevant to the whole of Malaysia. We are doing this programme called “Rezeki Air” — a story about a fisherman. The local dialect will be used which will be subtitled. What I am saying is that the lessons from that story is not only relevant to Sarawak, it is also relevant to people everywhere in the world. This is something that the whole world can see and it is accessible now and will be subtitled in Malay and English.
Can stories from Sarawak be marketed globally?
I think the need for stories from Sarawak to be seen globally is there, because some of the programmes are of very high quality, for example, the story of the last ring ladies, which I felt is very presentable. This will be showcased on the first day (Oct 10). These are the stories where you can preserve the local culture, and is relatable. I don’t think it is just for Sarawakians. I think the world will be able to appreciate it. When they appreciate it, there will be more demand for Sarawak-made content.
How about advertising revenue?
I think that is one of the challenges that we have to face. But I feel the most important thing is that we have to produce quality content as the advertisers will be evaluating us on that. If our programmes gain a lot of following, then advertisers will be interested to come in, so quality content is our priority — if we are able to do that, we will attract advertisers. So far, there are a few who have shown keen interest, but I think for the first year, we need to build our reputation and build our brand.
Of course, in the long run we want to be sustainable and have our own income so that we can finance our operations. But to me, the important thing is to come up with quality content first.
Surely with a TV station, this will provide opportunities to those in the creative industry, how many do you think can be created with TVS?
Let’s put it this way, TVS, when operating fully will need to have about 250 employees. Now we have about 100 employees and we are also interviewing people to add to our ranks. But for us, it is not only job opportunities, we are also opening up doors to various industries, to productions such as drama, sitcoms, talk shows and animations.
We recently had a pitching session where we have ideas pitched to us and some of the ideas are really good. If they have good ideas, we will finance. This is the model for those who are interested in the industry.
What is the benchmark for TVS for it to be viewed as a success?
I think that there are many ways that we can evaluate success, it is not just by the income it generates, but also in terms of its role in the local creative industry. For Sarawak, there is also that tourism aspect where Sarawak benefits from domestic tourism. So, I feel that there are many ways that we can evaluate the success.
Normally, we would say that ratings are important, if a programme attains a good rating, it is good. That is only one of the ways. But there are also other programme that are beneficial without having the ratings — these are business programmes, innovation programmes and programmes related to research and development, this is also important.
With the list of programmes planned by TVS, how will the station assure that it will be well received by audiences?
If we don’t try our programmes, we won’t know how the audience will react to it. At the same time, we also have data which outlined programmes that will guarantee viewers. These are especially entertainment, these will gain high ratings, but at the same time, we also believe in the concept of “inform, educate and entertain” — these will be the three aspects that we will look at as benchmark.
If the ratings are good, it means that the people are approving our programme. For example, if our news is watched by the masses, people and top leaders — this means that we are doing something right and that is how we will know whether we are successful.
How do you plan on penetrating the increasingly saturated social media platforms?
We have various methods — we have Facebook and we also have our own YouTube. Back then we had no social media, so it was easier. Today there are various platforms with many influencers. So, we need to know which market we want to target. For example, if we want to target the oil industry, we need to be very specific and know what kind of media that they are usually engaged in. Sometime, we have to reach out to them that way, one example is that we have to be on LinkedIn.
What is your hope in terms of the stakeholders?
We have a lot of stakeholders and we have different people for different things. We need to go back to our mission, why do we exist in the first place? We exist to inform, educate and entertain. We also have a social responsibility to make sure that we are a partner in developing the state. Stakeholders are not only our leaders; they are also the people. Sometimes, they also want to have their say, so we have our social media expert who is going through the comments to engage the people.
Speaking of development, how will TVS be in sync with the government’s development agenda?
At the end of the day, we need to ask the question — how will the people receive the benefits from development. Are they happy from the development? If they are happy, that means that we are already successful. When the people are featured in our programme, they can say what their aspirations are and what they want to see, so it is a two-way thing where the stakeholders can give their suggestions and that the development is felt at the end of the day. If there is no TV station, then how will we know that the people on the ground are happy?
One of the spillover effects from local exposure is that Sarawak’s products will be promoted, do you think TVS will be a boon in terms of promoting local products?
Definitely. The fashion trend in Kuala Lumpur now is the Penan bag which is ‘worn’ by many fashion figures. So, with the road access brought by development in the state, which will be shown on TV, we can get access to these products. The Penan bag for example and Sarawak products like Keringkam can be enjoyed by not only Sarawakians but also people from outside of Sarawak. I think this is very important and that is what we are working on at the moment.
How do you see TVS in five to ten years’ time?
I think changes happen very quickly. We can plan but there are times too that we need to change the plans as things are changing very fast because of technology. If you notice, the news programmes are shortened to 15 minutes as the attention span of people are getting shorter so we need to make our segments short, concise and straightforward. So, we need to move and adopt quickly. We are only relevant when we understand the demands of the people. We need to be sensitive to the needs of the stakeholders, audiences and fans. If not, it will be hard for us to move forward.
What do you hope to achieve in this first year of TVS’ operation?
I plan within one year we want to be the number one channel in the country because we have the capacity and the capability to do it. With the team that we have, we want to be number one. When we are planning our programmes, we need to see what our competitors are showing on their station. So, we need to be competitive. So, within a year, we want to be the number one channel — that is basically our target.
Any last words to the fans and audiences who are watching TVS?
We welcome them to give feedback to us as I believe that a media organisation needs to give what is needed by the audience. We welcome all kinds of feedback and we are not simply asking for compliments, what we need are suggestions on how we can improve. That is the responsibility of a TV station.
We also welcome those who want to participate in the creation of our content, that is why we have a pitching session which we will conduct at the end of the year. So, we invite people to be part of the group and participate in our content.
