Although it allowed Cambodia to produce its own programs and stay tuned to ongoing serials from foreign countries, a partnership deal between TVK and a Singapore firm has been a financial disaster, leading the Singaporeans to fold the enterprise, officials said Wednesday.
One problem with the deal between Cambodia’s largest national television station and Media Services Limited is that the government forces TVK to faithfully follow the nation’s new copyright laws.
Obeying the copyright laws means TVK must pay thousands of dollars for broadcast rights to a single movie, while rival stations can buy pirated copies of the same movie for just a few dollars, MSL general-director Sem Sovanndeth said.
MSL has lost more than $1 million in the first year of the agreement. As a result, the company has scaled back and may not return at all, Sem Sovanndeth said.
“The business situation in Cambodia did not meet our investment expectations, so we have withdrawn in order to re-study the market,” he said.
The Singapore firm has cut back its Cambodian operations 80 percent, reducing some workers to part-time employees.
MSL should have known better and its cries now have little credibility, TVK general-director Mau Ayuth said.
“I explained to them before about the market and the overall situation in Cambodia, but they said they would make it better than any other stations,” Mau Ayuth said.
