Media Prima Bhd is not dismissing the  possibility of owning another television station or acquire Bernama TV (BTV) as part of its expansion plan.

Its Shared Services and TV Network chief operating officer, Kamal Khalid, said the company would be more than happy to operate more stations.

"But, in the absence of that possibility, we will try to work with companies like Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) to use all alternative delivery methods to reach our customers," he told reporters at the launch of Emas Channel 104 here today, which would offer retro contemporary concept programmes.

It will be transmitted through the HyppTV television Internet Protocol services provided by TM.

Kamal, who is also chief operating officer for Business Development and International, said the spectrum was limited and this was one limitation faced by free-to-air TV operators like Media Prima.

He said the company would like to have additional spectrum and secure licence to do something else but this was very difficult.

Wait and see

Asked whether Media Prima was interested to operate BTV if offered by the government, he said in jest: "We will wait for the letter".

"We will wait-and-see for developments transpiring between the government and BTV. We will let them settle first and see what happens," Kamal said obviously referring to a statement by Information, Communciation and Culture Minister Rais Yatim who announced that the government will take over BTV on June 1.

      

BTV was incorporated in 2008 through a joint venture between BTV Synergy Sdn Bhd and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) with the former owning 67 percent equity.

On another development, Kamal said Media Prima would step up efforts to sell over 40,000 hours of content available in their archives.

The company expected the content contribution business, which currently contributed less than RM10 million, to grow further as it aimed to supply more content to the region.

- Bernama