The last time Television Asia Plus interviewed Rudy Tanoesoedibjo, Director MNC Sky Vision (MSV), the pay–TV operator was gaining impressive subscriber numbers monthly, only to see substantial numbers being eroded by signal pirates. At that time, he had taken matters into his own hands, meeting with international broadcasters to seek their help in taking anti– piracy action. Happily, much progress seems to have been made since then, with various industry bodies getting involved and action being taken against the pirates. This time around, Pak Rudy could talk of growth outpacing attrition. And it’s a positive sentiment widely echoed amongst the pay–TV fraternity, who feel that political stability and internal action against the pay–TV pirates bode well for long–term growth. Much of MNC Sky Vision’s growth this year was made possible by the May 2009 launch of its latest satellite INDOSTAR– II, to replace the position of INDOSTAR–I. Broadcasting on the same S–band frequency, INDOSTAR–II has the latest broadcast transmission technology giving INDOSTAR–II satellite double the capacity of INDOSTAR–I. “This has resulted in improvement of the quality and very excellent delivery of the service,” said Pak Rudy, “as well as increasing our capacity. Before we had 4.5 transponders, now we have ten fully functioning transponders.” Another major factor in MSV’s growth has been the launch of Top TV, a new service offering lower–level price points. “Indovision was indeed perceived as a premium product, it was a perception we engineered to appeal to higher–spending demographic. So Top TV is targetted at those people who can’t afford (or think they can’t) Indovision.” But Pak Rudy says that their research has shown that those people who can afford Top TV, can actually afford Indovision. “So our strategy is to attract them to Top TV and then upsell to Indovision. People like to move up rather than down.” He also talks about how capacity has helped boost their content offerings, such as the recently– launched 24–hour Golf Channel. “We have many things on an exclusive basis.” Asked about the popularity of their in–house comedy channel, Pak Rudy said that many channels that buy third–party content are not suitable for the MSV platforms. “So it is better for us to locally package channels, like the comedy channel. There has been a very positive response from subscribers and we have other in–house channels planned.” Another interesting development was MSV’s commitment to HDTV at the signing of an MoU between MSV and Samsung to supply Decoders or Set–Top Boxes (STB). In his speech, Tanoesoedibjo offered his appreciation to Samsung, adding that is also Indovision’s commitment to the utilization of local components, from Samsung’s factory in Cikarang, Indonesia, employing 90 percent local workers and using local components. “Provision of the STB is also Indovision’s first step into the High–Definition Television (HDTV) and to encourage local components,” said Rudy. “This is a form of our commitment to be a great player and to keep leading in this industry.” Rudy described the pay–TV industry as a very prospective business in Indonesia, with Indovision claiming a dominant 70 percent share of the pay–TV market in Indonesia. On the anti–piracy side of the business, the Government is currently in the process of applying effective laws and regulations to stop illegal cable TV operators which are located at rural and city outside Jakarta. Therefore, illegal cable TV predicates can be removed in Indonesia. Based on the information from Association of Indonesia Multimedia Provider ( APMI) and Association of Indonesia Cable TV Entrepreneur (APTEKINDO), currently there are approximately 680–2,500 illegal cable TV operators with the total number of subscriber reach about two million households, which is bigger than the operator’s legal subscribers and the gross income as well. The price range being charged to the illegal pay TV subscribers is between Rp 20.000 – Rp 50.000. This is below the national pay TV subscription fee which at least Rp 85.000 per month. As a result, there are a lot of potential subscribers that are interested in the price offered by the illegal pay TV operators. Illegal cable TV re–distributors are mostly located at Kalimantan, Sumatera and Sulawesi. They redistribute programs without having broadcast rights from the channel provider and without a broadcasting license from the Minister of Communications & Information Technology as being regulated in the Broadcasting Act. To overcome this matter, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) asked the government to apply effective regulations to manage pay TV operators which are located rurally and in cities outside Jakarta to broadcast legally according the law and regulation of The Republic of Indonesia. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Depkominfo) has prepared a number of steps to overcome these illegal cable TV operators. There are three main steps ready to run. First, Depkominfo in cooperation with APMI are planning to organize a National Joint Campaign. Secondly, Depkominfo will intensify advocacy on how to get a Broadcast License, especially for cable pay–TV providers. Third, Depkominfo, in cooperation with APMI, plans to conduct legal action after completing the activity of socialization and advocacy (projected to be conducted in 2010). Says Pak Rudy, “Many things have changed since we last met, we are very happy to be receiving such support from our channels and from the Government. In Indonesia there is a potential market of about 10 million, we estimate 12–15 million subscribers can afford pay TV.” Pak Rudy estimated current subscriber numbers, for both Indovision and Top TV, at around 670,000, with 1 million subscribers the next major milestone in MSV’s sights. “We are very confident of achieving this milestone very soon. Even now, we have a very significant competitive advantage – my short term goal is the one million mark.”