As football "has gained in popularity, the Indonesia Super League has undoubtedly captured more public attention and TV stations are willing to pay big money to buy ISL broadcast rights," according to Ami Afriatni of the JAKARTA GLOBE.
RCTI announced on Wednesday that it "had secured ISL broadcast rights, along with other MNC group TV stations -- MNCTV and Global TV -- for free-to-air TV, while its pay-TV service, Indovision, has also secured rights for pay TV." RCTI Managing Dir Kanti Mirdianti said, "This season’s league has brought fresh air to the country’s football development and its industry because [ISL] is the first step to unite the country’s football clubs under one competition." The MNC group "secured a deal with rights owner BV Sport to broadcast 100 out of 245 matches produced by BV Sports."
It is considered "a breakthrough as the ISL broadcast rights had been monopolized by TV stations owned by the Bakrie family -- ANTV and tvOne -- for years." Kanti added that "the ISL rights cost RCTI big money, but it has also given a boost to station’s ratings and share performance." Indonesian FA (PSSI) Chair Djohar Arifin Husin said that TV rights "had contributed a lot to the governing body’s income." He said, "Last year we booked Rp 10 billion [$850,000] profit, the highest in the country’s football history. We offered up to Rp 3 billion for the live matches of every tournament participated in by the national team last year. I hope better broadcast deals will improve football development" (JAKARTA GLOBE, 2/21).
