Joint Press Statement

MEDIA RELEASE

SPH and MediaCorp welcome MDA's approval of merger of mass-market TV operations

MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings jointly welcome MDA's formal approval of the consolidation of their mass market TV operations.
Both sides believe that the merger will bring rationality to the free-to-air TV markets.

With the MDA approval, the two media groups hope to complete the legal process of the consolidation by the end of the year.

The two groups note at this point that MediaCorp TV Singapore Pte Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of their Joint Venture, MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd, would likely be able to fulfill the conditions set by MDA.

They will be responding officially to MDA in due course once they have the opportunity to study the details of the approval.

The requirement to outsource some local production is consistent with the role of the Joint Venture, as the largest player here, to help develop Singapore's creative industry.

Over the years, MediaCorp has outsourced a sizeable part of its work to private production houses to complement MediaCorp Studio (MSD)'s capability. Despite the dominance of MSD, the media group knows that it does not have a monopoly on talent or ideas.

MediaCorp Studios is the largest outfit of its kind in Southeast Asia, producing English and Chinese dramas, sitcoms and variety shows for Singapore and beyond. It is the intention of MediaCorp Studios to develop this capability further with the support of the local production houses so that more Singapore content can be exported overseas.

Issued by MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings

6 Dec 2004