BUANASENI

By Johan Ishak

TV has been the primary source of entertainment for most of the households across the globe, and certainly for Malaysians. However, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has infected the TV industry, so much so that, microeconomically, TV businesses face challenge at an unprecedented manner. We have seen Nokia losing to iPhones. We have seen taxis losing to Grab. We have seen many other paradigm shifts in the economy. Is TV facing the same fate?

Johan Ishak, in his book, TX'ing (Transmitting) the J-Curve, shares his experience as the CEO of the No.1 TV station in Malaysia, TV3, as the TV station face the threat of losing its market to the likes of Facebook, Google and Youtube. As TV3 is the biggest contributor to the financial results of a Malaysian public listed media company, Media Prima Berhad, the group faced the risk of suspension from the bourse, Bursa Malaysia, as it deals with the bourse's Practice Note 17 (PN17) that is akin to the American Chapter 11.

Johan shares his experience turning around the TV operation from red back to black circa 2017 to 2020, that involves and coincides with the digitalisation of broadcasting, the rise of social media, growth of e-commerce, Malaysian political turmoil that was sensitive to media and journalism, globalisation of content distribution via Over-the-Top platforms such as Netflix, and the inevitable act of workforce retrenchment.

Today, TV3 is still in operation albeit thinner margin, presumably, and what had happened has certainly opened the eyes of media players in Malaysia to critically contemplate new business models going forward.

TX'ing the J-Curve is now available for RM64.90 at these book stores:

1. Kedai Fixi, Sunway Putra Mall, Kuala Lumpur

2. Riwayat Bookstore, Jalan H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur