Poor Reception For TV Moguls

Media entrepreneurs’ dreams of Pacific empire are faltering.

By Liz Fell

AUSTRALIAN brewer and tele vision entrepreneur Alan Bond has encountered some tricky political problems in establishing broadcast serv ices in the politically volatile nations of Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

The Fiji-TV and EM TV services form part of Bond Media’s strategy to establish a South Pacific TV network linking a number of small stations in the develop ing countries to satellite-delivered pro grams supplied by Australia and North America. In 1984 PBL Pacific TV (then owned by Kerry Packer) came up with the idea of providing the broadcasting infras tructure in each nation in return for a ma jor stake in its service. Piracy of satellite TV signals was thriving and there was a bountiful supply of videotapes recorded

in Australia or New Zealand since none of the smaller nations could afford to estab lish its own station.

The Packer offer, which was inherited by Bond, allowed each nation station to assume some semblance of control by slotting locally made programs and com mercials into the predominantly foreign program service.

Fiji’s Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kam isese Mara, accepted the offer amid ac cusations of secret deals and before a public debate or legislative framework had been

set in place, but when the Bavadra Government came to power last year it an nounced a review of Bond’s 80 per cent stake and the 12-year exclusive contract, The review did not surface before the Government was ousted by the military,

ana Fiji TV director Jim Fitz maurice now says the down turn in Fiji’s economy has forced a revision of Fiji-TV’s revenue forecasts; the service is “on hold”.

“In the existing climate we don’t believe it would be com mercially viable,” he says. “If there are signs of things im proving, we’ll review our position.”

Introducing TV into Papua New Guinea was another touch-and-go venture, and an other that triggered accusa tions of bribery and corruption.

PNG Prime Minister Paias Wingti expressed vehement opposition to deals (negotiated while Michael Somare led the

country) that allowed two Australian con trolled corporations one of which was Packer’s PBL Pacific TV to secure broadcasting licences.

Wingti even tried to legislate to stop the services going to air until a public inquiry was complete and legislation in place. “We are being asked to sacrifice our cultural heritage for passing material gain,” he said at the time. “No money can buy [back] our languages once they are lost.”

His attempt was challenged in the courts, and Kevin Parry’s Niugini Tele

vision Network (NTN) and Bond Media’s EM TV went to air in Port Moresby last year.

No-one expected two commercial TV stations to survive in the small Port Mo resby advertising market, where revenue available to all media (radio, newspapers, billboards and TV) is worth only some SAIS million a year. Parry Corporation’s NTN ceased broadcasting early this year, and EM TV is now poised to expand into the major centres of Lac, Mt Hagen, Ra baul and Goroka by mid-year.

Fitzmaurice says satellite technology will eventually be used to reach the poten tial PNG audience of 3.5 million: but since the majority of people do not yet have ac cess to electricity, let alone television, pen etration outside urban centres is likely to be slow.

Meanwhile, the Wingti Government has drafted a new Mass Media Bill that es tablishes national interest, fairness, and effective PNG ownership and control as basic licensing criteria for all media. The new foreign ownership restrictions would mean Bond must reduce his 50 per cent stake in EM TV by more than half within 10 years.

A special Media Tribunal would also have the power to ensure TV broadcasts have some social, cultural and political relevance, and to establish a local pro gram quota. This may prove difficult. At present, EM TV’s locally produced pro grams comprise a 30 minute evening news, Kids’ Kona and sport.

Commercials are also produced lo cally, though their social and cultural rel evance may be the first item on the new tribunal’s agenda. Some commercials, for example, feature high-tech consumer goods such as pressure packs, security gates and mobile phones products that are far beyond the financial reach of all but a few Papua New Guineans.

Eighty per cent of EM TV’s program menu is produced outside the country, and includes Australian news and sport cour tesy of Bond Media’s Nine Network and his Sky Channel pay-TV service. Most broadcast time is taken up with old Amer ican favourites such as The Ballad of Andy Crocker , Sesame Street , Batman, Ri pleys Believe It or Not and Bewitched.

It’s tempting, with such a diet of hom ogenised Americana, to wonder how viewers unaccustomed to television re spond to a program such as Bewitched where Samantha the blonde-haired, witch-cum-all American housewife is capable of transforming anyone who bothers her into a dog or butterfly with a twitch of her nose. □

Above: Kevin Parry’s PNG network is out of the running.

Left: Alan Bond’s push into Fiji has been halted.