Privately-owned television station DhiTV is among six parties to have expressed interest in a joint venture arrangement with the ailing Maldives National Broadcasting Company (MNBC), which broadcasts rival channels including Television Maldives (TVM) and Voice of Maldives (VOM).
DhiTV CEO Yoosuf Nawaal said the station had approached MNBC and offered to buy TVM’s land for Rf100 million (US$7.78 million), “and they would pay us a monthly rent of Rf1 million (US$77,800).”
“We actually gave them quite a clean business offer; in terms of interest it was about 10 per cent,” Nawaal said, adding that DhiTV was only interested in the land not the property on it as “TVM’s equipment and staff are quite old.”
As for the broadcaster’s independence, “they would be running the show and we would not be involved.”
MNBC’s Managing Director Ibrahim Khaleel did not confirm that DhiTV was one of the interested parties but did state that one was “local” while the others were foreign interests.
“During last year six parties expressed interest, five foreign and one local company. But their interest was a commercial interest and not our interest,” Khaleel said. He added that the local company concerned was a “very established company”, and “if we do some business with them it may not be as a partner, but to share some services. That would be one way of doing it.”
He emphasised that media reports this morning suggesting that MNBC was selling its stations “are not true. We are not going to sell, and we are not looking to sell. We are looking for a partner for a joint venture [agreement].”
MNBC was currently trying to “reduce and restructure” TVM, he explained, “as at the moment it is an expensive operation.”
If the partner turned out to be another local media company, he noted, “I think we have to think about a lot of things.”
“Public service broadcasting is very important. We are trying to become a developed nation and that means developing not only buildings, but the intellectual community [as well],” he said.
“I think if someone was interested, the partner should agree that TVM and VOM would remain as public service broadcasting. We have to set standards and editorial guidelines, because it will be a problem if they are not there.”
MNBC’s other channels, including YouthTV and RaajjeFM, represented commercial opportunities for the right partner, Khaleel said.
“As well as commercialising YouthTV and RaajjeFM, they could create another channel or develop internet, mobile and cable [broadcasting],” he suggested. “If someone expresses interest we will sit down together and discuss how we can handle it.”
There were many successful models for running state media, he agreed, but Maldives was unique because of its small population.
“Everyone says the BBC model is great, but the population, technology and human resource situation is completely different here in the Maldives. We have 300,000 people, and the expenditure for a public broadcasting service is huge.”
The current program of “reducing and restructuring” would not affect the editorial quality of the state broadcaster because of the organisation’s investment in training, he insisted.
“We need to develop our staff. For 47 years of radio and broadcast there has not been a single human being with a diploma or a degree involved. We are funding 14 journalist diplomas and have sent 15 staff to study degree-level journalism abroad. Most important thing is not numbers [of staff], but quality and experience.”
President of the Maldives Journalist Association Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir said he was not in favour of foreign influence on local media, and that furthermore he felt “state TV should remain state TV, even if it was run with a much lower budget.”
“TVM’s budget is Rf100 million (US$7.78 million), they could cut that in half. I think the state would provide that,” he said.
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