TVRI


TVRI is an Indonesian national public television network and one of Indonesia's two national Public Broadcasting Institutions, the other being the public radio network RRI. First publicly airing in 24 August 1962, on the opening day of, and established as part of the preparations for, the 1962 Asian Games, it is the oldest television network in the country. Its national headquarters is in Gelora, Central Jakarta.
TVRI monopolized television broadcasting in Indonesia until 24 August 1989, when the first commercial television station RCTI went on the air. Alongside RRI, TVRI was converted from a state-controlled broadcaster under government department into an independent public broadcaster on 18 March 2005, becoming the first public broadcaster in the country.
TVRI currently broadcasts throughout the country with three national channels as well as 35 regional stations. As of 2025 it has 361 transmitters; making it the television network with the largest terrestrial coverage in the country. Its funding primarily comes from the annual state budget approved by the parliament, advertisements, and other services.

History

1962–1975: 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. On July 25, 1961, the Minister of Information issued Decree of the Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia No. 20/SK/M/1961 concerning the formation of the Television Preparatory Committee. 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:
  1. Building a studio at the former AKPEN 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Preparing the equipment. Specifically, the equipment supply comes from NEC, after going through selection from other providers, such as Siemens, RCA, and Marconi. 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.
TVRI began broadcasting advertisements starting March 1963. Later on 20 October, the Yayasan TVRI 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, Dunia Dalam Berita, breaking events segments on Laporan Khusus and Berita Terakhir.
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 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 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 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, 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 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 No. 13/2005. TVRI officially became LPP on 18 March 2005.