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SINGAPORE : MediaCorp plans to continue to expand its regional investments, so that overseas contributions make up one third of its revenue.
In an interview to mark his third year as CEO of the media company, Lucas Chow said it will delay its plans for a new media hub, due to construction costs and the global financial downturn.
The parent company of Channel NewsAsia, MediaCorp said the S$300 million construction plan will now be carried out in phases.
A 70,000-square metre piece of land in Bukit Batok was expected to be the new home for MediaCorp by 2011.
But with high construction costs, the company is revising its plans.
Mr Chow said: "We are going back to the drawing board. For example, for Phase One, we can say that we build brand new studios, so that production people will have brand new studios.
"We do not have a fixed timeline as to when Phase One must start. It will depend very much on the building costs, the economy, and the financial situation that the company is in."
Mr Chow said the downturn has affected MediaCorp's advertising revenue, as companies have cut back on spending.
Mr Chow added that he is not expecting the company's second-half performance for the year to do just as well as the first half, which reported year-on-year growth.
Still, he is confident the company has sufficient reserves to see it through the current crisis.
And he believes that there is opportunity in adversity, whatever happens in the markets.
Mr Chow said the company will continue to look into expanding regionally through investments.
He said: "Because of this downturn, share markets have taken a severe beating. So maybe there will be opportunities for us to get into what previously was not opened to us.
"India is a market that we are always very interested to look at. We want to look at markets that basically have a good size of population, and a healthy growth potential."
MediaCorp's overseas investments include a 20 per cent stake in a Vietnam media company and a 22 per cent stake in a China advertising firm. Both were made in February 2008.
In 2007, the company invested over US$180 million in an Indonesian media firm.
The company still has its sights set on the target of having one-third of its revenue from overseas in five years.
Other opportunities include upgrading staff skills and current facilities, where necessary, through technology.
Mr Chow said: "In the newsroom, recently, we went all digital, we have gone to a tapeless environment, so that we can actually access the same piece of content coming in and do editing at the desktop.
"Regardless of whether we are going to move, I feel that those are the tools that will help us to be more efficient, and I think we should continue to invest in such things. There are technology upgrades that we will continue to do regardless of the fact that whether we are going to move."
MediaCorp will continue to integrate its television, radio, print and online platforms to deliver the news.
Mr Chow elaborated: "We have a news gathering machine. And once you gathered it in this machine, you have to pitch it to the various platforms. We employ SMS messages to have you notified of the breaking news...this is followed by our radio news.
"We also cover issues in terms of emotions where you go out there and capture all the visuals, the multimedia portions of it, so that you have sound and pictures...on television or online. Then of course, there is the print media TODAY newspaper, which gives you the background, the analysis.
"Then when you get into a little bit more detail, you have current affairs on a television programme, as well as a radio programme and that will give our audience a little background and insight into some of the news.
"So just on news alone, you can see that we are changing the structure to support ourselves, so that we can actually deliver the same piece of content in different manners, and present it in different ways."
Mr Chow believes that these investments will pay off in the long run, whatever the current financial situation. - CNA/ms
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