MNC Vision, previously known as Indovision, is a
direct-to-home satellite television and radio service in Indonesia on a subscription basis. It is owned by PT
MNC Vision Networks Tbk, which is a subsidiary of
MNC Asia Holding. MNC Vision is the first and oldest subscription-based
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
service in Indonesia.
History
Early operational

PT MNC Sky Vision Tbk was originally founded as PT Malicak Nusa Semesta on 8 August 1988 and on 29 July 1989 changed its name to PT Matahari Lintas Cakrawala. However, it was only at the end of 1993 that this company received permission to manage the
subscription television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
business under the trademark Indovision, and was finally launched on 16 January 1994 and began operating on 1 October 1994.
Indovision started its service with a five-channel
C-Band Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) analog service. Using
Palapa B2P satellite for its transponders, the C-Band DBS service featured programming from the "Gang of Five", which was a consortium that was set up to compete against
STAR TV in Asia. Indovision has had deals with
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...
and
ESPN Asia since October 1991,
HBO Asia since October 1993 and others since March 1994. Before the launch of Indovision, their three channels could still be taken by satellite dishes, but after the launch, their broadcasts were scrambled using
Videocipher.
PT Matahari Lintas Cakrawala (abbreviated as Malicak) was originally (61%) owned by PT Datakom Asia, which is owned by various entrepreneurs affiliated with the Cendana elite (family and relatives of
Suharto
Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...
). In addition to PT Datakom, other minority shareholders in PT Malicak consist of several individuals and companies, such as Henry Pribadi and . For its broadcasting, Indovision initially used
Palapa B2P satellite services. The initial target was 150,000 subscribers by the end of 1994, but due to the high price of set-top boxes and rentals (
Rp 1,475,000 for set-top boxes, Rp 82,000/month for subscriptions), the service was short of interest and only reached 5,000 subscribers in its first year. Then, a collaboration was established with STAR TV in 1996 to supply four channels,
Star Sports,
Star Plus
StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented reali ...
,
Star Movies and
Channel V, so that now there were 25 TV channels that can be enjoyed at a cheaper price (Rp 63,000/month). The partnership with STAR TV was unfortunately decided in 1998 (allegedly due to a dispute over the lease of satellites), although later Indovision began broadcasting other TV channels such as
Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
,
AXN, and
Cinemax
Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...
, plus 5 national private TV stations (
RCTI,
SCTV,
TPI,
ANTV and
Indosiar) that existed since 1 October 1998.
In 1996, many of Indovision's customers at that time came from hotels (about 30,000), while home and individual customers were only 20,000.
Indovision originally targeted 600,000 subscribers, but was lowered to 50,000 due to the
1997 Asian financial crisis
The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...
. Between 1999 to 2000, Indovision gained around 20,000 - 70,000 subscribers.
In 1997,
IndoStar-1 which is also known as Cakrawarta-1 (designed and built by Thomas van der Heyden, founder of what later became Orbital Sciences GEO division), was launched as the world's first commercial communications satellite to use
S-band
The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...
frequencies for broadcasting (pioneered by van der Heyden), which provided high-quality transmissions to small-diameter 80 cm antennas in regions that experience heavy rainfall such as Indonesia. This satellite uses S-Band frequency, which is less vulnerable to atmospheric interference than other satellite frequencies and are well suited to tropical climates such as Indonesia. Cakrawarta-1 is managed and operated by PT Media Citra Indostar (MCI), established on 22 July 1991.
By the end of 1997, the company anticipated terminating its analog service and encouraged its subscribers to switch to its digital DBS service. As of 1999, Indovision has fully utilizing S-band frequency.
Further developments under MNC
In October 2001 PT Malicak's parent company, PT Datakom Asia was acquired by
Salim Group
The Salim Group is Indonesia's biggest conglomerate and refers to companies where the Salim family holds majority ownership. Its assets include Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle producer; Indomobil Group, one of Indon ...
in a joint venture with
Bhakti Investama (now MNC Asia Holding) (51%), owned by
Hary Tanoesoedibjo
Bambang Hary Iswanto Tanoesoedibjo (born 26 September 1965), usually shortened to Hary Tanoesoedibjo or Hary Tanoe, is an Indonesian businessman and politician. He is the chairman of PT MNC Asia Holding Tbk, which he founded in 1989. As the chai ...
(HT). This is the beginning of HT's ownership in this pay TV until now. Then Salim's ownership in PT Datakom disappeared, leaving HT as the main controller of the largest pay TV in Indonesia. PT Malicak (Indovision) shares were still controlled by PT Datakom by 96% in 2006, until in 2006-2008 its shares were sold to
Global Mediacom, Bhakti Investama and other companies. In this case, PT Malicak can be said to have only changed parent companies, not ownership. On 3 June 2006, along with the acquisition process, the name of PT Malicak was changed to PT MNC Sky Vision. However, the product name is still Indovision. Meanwhile, for Indovision's satellite manager, PT Media Citra Indostar (MCI) was initially owned by PT Datakom, but through a
bond agreement, and since 23 December 2016, PT MCI has become a subsidiary of PT MNC Sky Vision.

On 1 April 2008, a slimmed-down suite of channels was marketed separately by Indovision as Top TV, targeting middle to lower-middle markets and rural areas uncovered by
terrestrial TV.
Later, on 1 November 2008, another product, OkeVision, was launched, operated under a subsidiary named PT. Nusantara Vision. Both were discontinued at the end of 2017 in the rebranding to MNC Vision.
On 16 May 2009, Indovision launched a satellite named Indostar-2/Cakrawarta-2/ProtoSar-2; it has 32 transponders, including 10 active transponders and 3 backups to strengthen the S-band frequency wave. It was later renamed to SES-7 in May 2010. It is positioned at 108.2° East
longitude
Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
to avoid collisions. Later, Indovision has officially launched
high-definintion (HD) channels which initially had two (
National Geographic Channel HD and
HBO HD), but currently there are 29 HD channels.
Since 9 July 2012, PT MNC Sky Vision officially listed its initial shares on the
Indonesia Stock Exchange
Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) ( (BEI)) is a stock exchange based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was previously known as the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) before its name changed in 2007 after merging with the Surabaya Stock Exchange (SSX). In rece ...
, by releasing 20% of its shares at Rp 1,520/share. At that time, foreign investors also entered, namely from Saban Capital and Creador Capital, each around 17% and 13%. Its customers also continued to grow, reaching 2.15 million in 2013 and being the largest player in pay TV industry.
Towards the end of 2013, Indovision announced that all MPEG-2 channels would be terminated in 2014 and encouraged customers to switch to MPEG-4 (HD) decoders, and change their old broadcast cards with newer ones. This is due to Indovision's MPEG-4 technology is unable to be accessed to MPEG-2 decoders anymore.
In 2016, the shares of Global Mediacom on MNC Sky Vision were redirected to its subsidiary, PT Sky Vision Networks.
On 12 December 2017, Indovision, Top TV and OkeVision were merged to form MNC Vision. Currently, MNC Vision is a part of
MNC Vision Networks (MVN), alongside
K-Vision (acquired from
Kompas Gramedia
Kompas Gramedia is a major Indonesian media company. It engages in several businesses, predominantly mass media, as well as hospitality, manufacturing, and event organizing.
The company's businesses consist of multiple divisions, such as media ...
in 2019) and
Vision+
VISION+ (pronounced: VISION Plus) is an Indonesian over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service owned by PT MNC OTT Network, a subsidiary of MNC Corporation, MNC Group.. Officially launched on January 15, 2020, VISION+ offers a wide range of premiu ...
.
On 12 May 2023,
Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific ended its contract with MNC Vision and removed its 14 channels from the platform, citing contract renewal problems.
Slogan history
* ''Satu Visi, Banyak Aksi'' (''One Vision, Many Actions'', Indovision)
* ''Top Banget!'' (''Very Top!'', Top TV)
* ''Bioskop Masuk Rumah'' (''Movies go to home'', OkeVision)
* ''Bukan yang Lain'' (''Nothing else'', Indovision/MNC Vision)
* ''Pay TV Keluarga Indonesia'' (''Pay TV for Indonesian Families'')
See also
*
Sportstars
*
OK TV
*
List of television stations in Indonesia
*
Television in Indonesia
Notes
References
External links
MNC Vision official website
{{CATV Africa, Asia, and Oceania
Mass media companies established in 1988
Indonesian companies established in 1988
Direct broadcast satellite services
Television companies of Indonesia
Companies based in Jakarta
Media Nusantara Citra
Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange
2012 initial public offerings