KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Bhd is in preliminary talks with privately-held Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, which is looking at converting all analog televisions (TVs) into the digital ones by 2015.
Puncak Semangat, owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, has been bidding for the conversion job from the government for the last three years.
"We cannot comment much on that. It's still in preliminary talks. Actually what I am doing here is evading your question," Media Prima chief operating officer for television networks Ahmad Izham Omar said at a press conference after announcing the content line-up for four of its TV stations for next year.
The conversion of all analog TVs to digital is expected to cost about RM2 billion, a study done in 2000 revealed.
The government is expected to announce the winner next year, but industry sources said the government has more or less confirmed that the tycoon has got the job.
Puncak Semangat has gone on a recruitment drive, looking for talent through collaboration with private colleges and universities.
For next year's content line-up, Izham said that their four stations, namely TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9 are expecting an increase. He did not share any number.
This year, Media Prima's TV stations took the top spot with 49 per cent viewership, followed by Astro 38 per cent and RTM channels at 13 per cent.
"Media Prima is committed to screening high quality local content helps to encourage and nurture the local content development industry.
"We have continually developed multimedia and interactive content that resonates with the IT-savvy generation. We believe in changing. Therefore, we are changing the landscape of content to be more interactive and innovative," added Izham.
Puncak Semangat, owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, has been bidding for the conversion job from the government for the last three years.
"We cannot comment much on that. It's still in preliminary talks. Actually what I am doing here is evading your question," Media Prima chief operating officer for television networks Ahmad Izham Omar said at a press conference after announcing the content line-up for four of its TV stations for next year.
The conversion of all analog TVs to digital is expected to cost about RM2 billion, a study done in 2000 revealed.
The government is expected to announce the winner next year, but industry sources said the government has more or less confirmed that the tycoon has got the job.
Puncak Semangat has gone on a recruitment drive, looking for talent through collaboration with private colleges and universities.
For next year's content line-up, Izham said that their four stations, namely TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9 are expecting an increase. He did not share any number.
This year, Media Prima's TV stations took the top spot with 49 per cent viewership, followed by Astro 38 per cent and RTM channels at 13 per cent.
"Media Prima is committed to screening high quality local content helps to encourage and nurture the local content development industry.
"We have continually developed multimedia and interactive content that resonates with the IT-savvy generation. We believe in changing. Therefore, we are changing the landscape of content to be more interactive and innovative," added Izham.
