By JO TIMBUONG
bytz@thestar.com.my
DONE DEAL: ANB director Tan Sri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim (left) shaking hands with Information, Communications and Culture Deputy Minister Datuk Joseph Salang at the launch of MCFA 2012 hosted by ABN in Putrajaya. Also present is Sreedhar (right).
PUTRAJAYA: The Asian Broadcasting Network Sdn Bhd wants to liven up the local content development industry.
Its president and chief executive Sreedhar Subramaniam said ABN's goal is to bring diverse amounts of content to its viewers.
"There are so many flavours out there and we would like to work closely with the creative industry to get that," he said after opening the ABN Malaysian Content for All Conference 2012 in Putrajaya.
ABN's first step would be to meet with as many Malaysian content developers and production houses as possible to discuss how they can work together to take local content to greater heights.
Earlier, in his speech, Sreedhar said the country should have content developers and broadcasters that can challenge US entertainment heavyweights, like Fox and Disney.
"We want (to develop) big players but in order to achieve that, we will need a media platform," he said.
Sreedhar said ABN is prepared to be that platform, where content developers can evolve from just being owners of production houses creating content for others, to broadcasters who are showing their content on their own channels.
"ABN is a truly open medium and we welcome anyone who is interested to be a broadcaster on our platform," he said.
This step could help industry players better highlight their productions and give the industry a boost.
In a panel discussion, themed Why Malaysian Content Is Often Overlooked, industry players revealed that they were usually given a short time-frame or small budgets to produce content for broadcasters, and this often resulted in poor-quality programmes.
ABN is set to launch its digital cable TV service next month and has set a conservative take-up target of 1,000 households in total for the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Baru.
It will be offering more than 100 channels at launch time. Charged with an RM2bil budget for the next 10 years, it plans to expand its services to the rest of the country.