Media Prima

Media Prima Berhad (doing business as Media Prima and stylized in lowercase title) is a Malaysian media company based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in Malaysia with business interests in television, print, radio, out-of-home advertising, content creation and digital media.
Founded in 2003 from the demerger of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad's (MRCB) media assets, the company operates five television channels — TV3, NTV7, 8TV, TV9 and Wow Shop and also five radio stations – Kool 101, Fly FM, 8FM, Hot FM and Molek FM. Media Prima is also the owner of New Straits Times Press, Malaysia's largest newspaper publisher with five national news brands – New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Harian Metro, Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily.
Primeworks Studios, Media Prima's commercial subsidiary, responsible in produces, distributes and sells Media Prima TV networks' programs as well as helps to generate funding for content provision and also distributes TV3's online news service, Buletin TV3. The company currently ranks third in Malaysia in digital reach following the 2017 acquisition of REV Asia Holdings, one of Southeast Asia's leading digital media groups. In 2018, Media Prima became the number one choice for mobile content ahead of Google and Facebook.
History
The company was formed on September 23, 2003 from the spin-out of MRCB's media assets, namely Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (STMB) and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (NSTP), in which the latter held since 1993. The corporate restructuring was completed in August 2003, giving way to the launch of Media Prima the following month. The company takes over the listing status of the STMB on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.
Not long after, Media Prima acquires 80% interest in Metropolitan TV Sdn Bhd which had a Content Application Service Provider (CASP) license which allowed it to open a television station. On January 8, 2004, 8TV was relaunched as a successor for MetroVision which was closed in November 1999. In July 2005, the company entered into a Collaboration and Assistance Agreement with Natseven TV Sdn Bhd (which operates ntv7), Synchrosound Studio Sdn Bhd (which operates now-defunct Wow FM), Questseven Dot Com Sdn Bhd and the respective companies' shareholders to provide assistance for the companies to undertake a corporate and debt restructuring scheme. On October 27, Media Prima acquires 100% stake in Natseven TV for RM90 million. The acquisition increased the company's television viewership market share to 48%, making Media Prima the owner of all free-to-air private television networks in Malaysia.
In 2008, Media Prima established its subsidiary in the Philippines, MPB Primedia Inc. in partnership with ABC Development Corp. (now TV5 Network) to relaunch the TV5 with new image with US$150 million media funding provided by the company. However, in October 2009, the company decided to divest its 70% of its shares in MPB Primedia to MediaQuest Holdings to prevent the liquidity of profits on the company's behalf. Also, in 2008, Media Prima launched a new subsidiary, Primeworks Studios to oversee productions of all Media Prima's television networks while promotes Malaysian TV programs to international markets.
In March 2009, Media Prima was among 6 ASEAN broadcasting companies including Mediacorp, Media Nusantara Citra (MNC) and ABS-CBN Corporation jointly to form a regional broadcasting alliance, Smart Alliance to carry out an alliance to cooperate in three areas—content, sales and marketing, and technology—and take advantage of economies of scale and combined markets that the region can offer. The company announced in November 2014 that it would reduce the number of employees by offering them a one-time payment. According to iys statement, the mutual separation scheme (MSS) will be implemented from November 14 and will be completed on December 15.
In early 2016, Media Prima signed a deal with South Korean company CJ Group to launch a home shopping channel, CJ Wow Shop and operated by the companies' joint-venture, MP CJ O Shopping Sdn. Bhd. In May 2017, Media Prima announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire new media startup Rev Asia for RM105 million, or about $24.2 million. The agreement will see Rev Asia being integrated into the company's platform to create the nation's largest digital media entity. In June 2018, Media Prima through its subsidiary, Rev Asia Holdings announced that it had acquired a 52% equity stake in Vocket Media Sdn Bhd worth RM2.6 million. The acquisition also simultaneously makes Vocket another new subsidiary of Media Prima.
By August 2018, Media Prima has reportedly sold the New Straits Times Press' Balai Berita site in Bangsar and the land where its printing factory is located in Shah Alam to PNB Development Sdn Bhd for RM280 million. This is the second major asset disposed by the company after selling a 21.36% stake to Malaysian Newsprint Industries (MNI) for a cash consideration of RM45.4 million on 2 May. The company will move its operations from Sri Pentas in Bandar Utama, which has been operated since the 1990s. One of the premises the group is considering moving to is at Saujana Resort, Seksyen U2, Shah Alam, which is owned by Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd.
On November 1, 2020, Media Prima acquired the remaining 49% stake in CJ Wow Shop from CJ Group and renamed it as Wow Shop. The acquisition is part of its plan to capitalize on the strong prospects of the home shopping and e-commerce industry.
Assets and subsidiaries
Media Prima owns major of media and entertainment companies in Malaysia, and has a multiple services and products such as television and radio broadcast, content production, program and film distributor, television production, film production, advertising, print publication, new media and digital platforms and music label and recording. Under its TV broadcasting subsidiary, Media Prima TV Networks, the company operates four terrestrial TV networks – TV3, ntv7, 8TV, TV9, an educational TV channel, DidikTV and a home shopping channel, Wow Shop (formerly CJ Wow Shop) as well as five radio stations under its radio broadcasting subsidiary, Media Prima Audio (formerly Media Prima Radio Networks and later Ripple) – Kool 101 (formerly Kool FM and later Buletin FM), Fly FM, Eight FM (formerly One FM and later 8FM), Hot FM and Molek FM as well as a podcast platform Audio+ (formerly Ais Kacang).
Other companies that operate under the Media Prima group are print publishing subsidiary New Straits Times Press–in which the company owns more than 98% of equity interests–which owns three major print and online news brands New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro and their respective weekend editions as well as online newspaper archive KLiK (formerly NSTP e-Media and later News & Image Bank or NIB). It also owned printing subsidiary Print Towers, tertiary education reference website Mind Campus and learning portal FullAMark; content creation subsidiary, Primeworks Studios that provides content output in diverse categories covering television, cinema, and digital platforms; new media subsidiary REV Media Group (formerly Alt Media and later Media Prima Digital) which owns the Tonton streaming service and multiple online portals such as Oh Bulan!, MyResipi, Vocket, Mashable SEA and TechNave; integrated solution provider Media Prima Omnia (or simply Omnia) which offers creative services and integrated marketing solutions across all the company's platforms. The company also owns out-of-home advertising business under its advertising arms, which consists of Big Tree, The Right Channel, Kurnia Outdoor, Gotcha, UPD, and Big Tree Seni Jaya, as well as an art gallery, Galeri Prima (formerly NSTP Art Gallery). The company's former assets including book publishing company, Berita Publishing (which was part of the New Straits Times Press until 2000 when it was sold to Alaf Positif), education arm Malaysia Institute of Integrative Media (MIIM; formerly Akademi TV3; sold to SAL Group of Colleges in 2003) and Ghanaian free-to-air TV network, TV3 Ghana. Both Berita Publishing and MIIM were operated long before Media Prima was established.
Leadership
Board of directors
Group Chairman
Datuk Seri (Dr.) Syed Hussain Aljunid
Group Managing Director
Rafiq Razali
Independent Non-Executive Director
Abdullah Abu Samah
Dato’ Sivananthan Shanmugam
Datuk Phang Ah Tong
Datuk Shireen Ann Zaharah Muhiudeen
Senior management team
Group Managing Director
Rafiq Razali
Group Chief Financial Officer
Rosli Sabarudin
Chief Executive Officer (Media Prima Omnia)
Datuk Michael Chan
Chief Executive Officer (Media Prima Television Networks & Primeworks Studios)
Nini Yusof
Chief Executive Officer (New Straits Times Press)
Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor
Chief Executive Officer (REV Media Group)
Samuel Wee
Chief Executive Officer (BIG TREE)
Shukor Ariffin
Chief Executive Officer (Media Prima Audio)
Nazri Noran
Acting Chief Executive Officer (WOWSHOP)
Datin Norashikin Habibur Rahman
Incidents
2018 bomb threat
On 28 August 2018, Media Prima's Sri Pentas headquarters was forced to evacuate following a false bomb threat. The police gave an order to evacuate the company's office at 10.30 pm. About 200 Media Prima employees were evacuated from the building. They were allowed to re-enter the building after two hours of inspection. The police did not find anything suspicious.
Following the cancellation of Nightline, TV3 aired the announcement about the incident. Royal Malaysia Police's bomb detector unit arrived at 11.40 pm to handle the case. The Fire and Rescue Department received the phone call from the police at 11.19 pm following the incident. The case was investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code, and the police found it was a false bomb threat. Two men were arrested in Temerloh, Pahang on 29 August 2018.
Ransomware attack
On 8 November 2018, Media Prima's computer system was locked and hacked by cyber criminals who demanded millions of ringgit for ransom. The attackers are said to be demanding 1,000 bitcoins to give up access to the computer system. It is not immediately known whether the company's data has been breached, and whether the media group will suffer financial losses as a result of the ransomware attack. Media Prima has decided not to pay the ransom.
Awards and accolades
See also
Mass media in Malaysia
Television in Malaysia
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM)
Astro
References
External links
Mass media companies of Malaysia
Mass media companies established in 2003
2003 establishments in Malaysia
Conglomerate companies of Malaysia
Companies listed on Bursa Malaysia
Television companies of Malaysia
Newspaper companies of Malaysia
Radio stations in Malaysia
Outdoor advertising agencies
Online publishing companies
Film production companies of Malaysia
Digital media organizations