PRIVATISATION OF THE SINGAPORE BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Abstract

In recent years, rapid development in broadcasting technology has changed the broadcasting environment into one of the most complex and competitive in the world. The role of broadcasting has shifted from public service to that of commercial broadcasting, with countries in the world going international both in terms of programming and production of programmes. Pressures to acquire a new plethora of new television services, the drive by powerful foreign broadcasters to cash in on new domestic markets, and the belief that television is just another business that should be left to competitive market forces, rather than be subjected to government control have combined to produce challenges for national policy makers. The Singapore government thus saw the need to come to grips with these powerful worldwide forces reshaping the broadcasting industry into a global structure. A system of legislative and structural reform of local broadcasting is necessary if the local broadcasting industry is to survive in this new broadcasting environment. As a result, in 1990, a programme of restructuring of the broadcasting industry, which involves breaking up the whole of SBC operation into several entities, was proposed. Privatisation would take place after the restructuring, and overtime, all or parts of these entities would be sold off to local and foreign investors. Such major restructuring and privatisation imply broadcasting in Singapore would no longer be a monopoly in future, as competition among the several broadcasting companies would result. Channel 5 and channel 8 would be the commercial broadcasting stations, while channel 12 the public service broadcasting station. Other companies such as the transmission company and the production company would also be formed. Clear duties are delegated to each of these companies. This reform thus allows for a separation of social objectives of the broadcasting industry from its commercial pursuits. The greater competition and efficiency that result from such a privatisation exercise will also put Singapore in a better position from which to go global and regional both in terms of programming and production. The challenge ahead in this new broadcasting regime is to develop Singapore into a broadcasting hub.