Indonesia to get 24-hour CNN channel

Indonesia is to get a 24-hour news channel from CNN with an accompanying website in Bahasa Indonesia.

Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific and PT Trans Media Corpora announced a strategic partnership to launch CNN Indonesia. It will be the first of its kind for CNN in Southeast Asia, delivering a localised version of CNN news to the region’s most populous nation.

CNN Worldwide President Mr Jeff Zucker said: “This agreement with one of the country’s largest media corporations puts CNN in a unique position to reach millions of Indonesians in a way that we have not been able to previously. The combination of the strength of the worldwide newsgathering power of CNN with the local perspective and sensibility that Trans Media will bring to the partnership enables us to provide important news and information to this enormous, non-English speaking audience.”

Mr Chairul Tanjung, Founder and Chairman of Trans Media’s parent company, CT Corp, added: “I believe this partnership will help Indonesians to better understand the world and, even more importantly, also help the world to better understand Indonesia. This is a partnership of two like-minded organisations that share common values of quality, integrity and transparency. CNN Indonesia will be the new destination for trustworthy and engaging content.”

CNN said the TV channel would be accompanied by a strong digital presence, including CNNIndonesia.com. With more than 100 million Indonesians expected to be online by 2016, the company said a multi-platform brand would be a vital and complementary component to the on-air offering.

As well as engaging leading local journalists to generate coverage, CNN said the channel would also tap into the network’s vast international pool of journalistic talent and share content from global affiliate partnerships. Trans Media will operate CNN Indonesia from its facilities in Jakarta. A launch date has yet to be announced.