Sky Media Network: Tuning into the future

Sky Media Network Ltd. recently launched three radio channels, namely: Sitha FM, RED 107.8 and Tamil FM. RED 107.8 became number one English language channel in Colombo within its target market in the first month since its launch, making its mark as a serious entrant to the radio broadcasting arena. Following is an interview with its Chairman and Managing Director Niranga Hettiarachchi, to find out more about the company and its plans:

Q:  How did you end up with a radio network?

A: Well, I come from a media and broadcasting background. In the early 2000’s my family invested into the first ever pay television network in Sri Lanka: Comet Cable (Multivision). Then we began the first ever digital terrestrial broadcasting in Sri Lanka in 2010/11 under Sky Television and Radio Network Ltd., the successor of Multivision/Comet Cable. Sky Television and Radio Network was subsequently acquired by Dialog Axiata PLC in 2013. Despite having ‘Radio’ in our company name; we were not granted a radio license or any FM frequencies at the time. So, I had always wanted to do radio and when the opportunity presented itself, we decided to go for it. 

Q: Who actually owns Sky Media Network? 

A: Sky Media Network is wholly owned by Infotainment Ltd., a company formed in 2003 by myself and my brother to experiment with new media opportunities in parallel to the family owned pay television business. However, my brother exited the company as he moved to the USA for his postgraduate studies and since then a few close friends joined me as partners in the company to take things forward. So together, we own and overlook the full management of Sky Media Network.

Q: You are a fairly new entrant in the radio business. How do you plan to take on well-entrenched players?

A: We don’t have tall claims to be the number one network in the country. Our vision is to be a leading media network in Sri Lanka providing a complete range of quality information and entertainment solutions for unlimited happiness of Sri Lankans using traditional as well as disruptive technologies. We want to provide a trusted source of information and entertainment, that reaches, engages and empowers the Sri Lankans without compromising the Sri Lankan values and traditions. The strategy for Sky Media Network is to segment the market with an offering for every audience segment.

With radio, our aim is to service under-served market segments, under-served target audiences and under-served entertainment options. For example, if we consider our English Channel, RED 107.8: one segment that we felt that was under-served was the middle-aged, upper and middle socioeconomic classification segment. With a burgeoning in this audience, there is a huge potential for a channel like ours that play music from the ‘80s and ‘90s mixed with current hits. 

Then on the other hand, most of the current crop of Sinhala channels is not targeted at any particular audience, compared to English channels that have defined target audiences. With a focused target market of a more intellectual audience from all ages, we launched Sitha FM. Consisting predominantly of ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s classics along with the best current hits; Sitha FM has a mix of music and music genres to appeal to Sri Lankan listeners. Similarly, Tamil FM’s music genres range from the most popular songs of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s as well as the latest modern hits of today.

We also have grouped together with some of the veteran radio personalities with a mix of new bloods, who are very excited and motivated. Teamwork will continue to be our strength. 

Q: What is NEWS 24? Another TV or radio channel?

A: We created a separate news brand for the company and named it NEWS 24. It is the brand we use in all three of our radio channels and it is now available on the web and social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. Our group of companies under Infotainment is strong in the digital space, and we will use that to stay ahead of the rest.  

Many news organisations have seen their credibility plummet in recent years, as people grow tired of journalistic methods they don’t understand or trust. When managing editors or news directors take arbitrary decisions on newsgathering practices, or are vague about explaining their rationale, it only adds to the mistrust. We provide fair and balanced coverage of the news and, our aim as part of the fourth pillar of democracy is to be a socially responsible media to promote a peaceful and prosperous community.

Q: What are your frequencies and how much of Sri Lanka do you cover at present?

A: We have reasonable island-wide coverage for both Sinhala and Tamil channels with almost 80% of the country being covered, which is a significant advantage for us against most other networks, except for maybe the top 5 players, when we entered the market. Two of the 3 channels broadcast island-wide on 88.6 MHz and 99.7 MHz, namely Sitha FM and Tamil FM respectively, covering most of the areas of the country. 

In addition, Sitha FM broadcast from Colombo, Hanthana, Gongala and Gammaduwa on 88.8 Mhz. Red 107.8 broadcast from Colombo, Hanthana and Gongala on 107.8 MHz whilst Tamil FM broadcast from Colombo, Kokavil on 99.5 MHz and Jaffna on 99.7 MHz. We are now in the process of improving the coverage to every corner of the country. Hopefully by the end of the year, we should have 100% coverage of the populated areas of the country. 

Q: What excites you about the future of radio in Sri Lanka? What are your goals for the next decade? 

A: Well, we have many plans to take things forward, mostly within the digital space. Unlike television going digital, radio on digital isn’t offering enough extras to make people switch. Analog terrestrial radio is still growing as well as the Internet and online radio – the entire pie is getting bigger. 

I am excited that in most new cars, the car dashboard has included a media player that can access any online stream in the world. This allows us to get around the scarcity of FM frequencies to offer new ‘radio’ stations, potentially to a global audience, or at least to sub-segments of the global audience. We all know the future is digital and for radio, it’s not digital broadcasting, but digital streaming. We will strive to be the leader of that shift.