About Trans TV

Trans TV

Trans TV is an Indonesian free-to-air television broadcaster based in South Jakarta, in the capital city of Jakarta. Operated by PT Televisi Transformasi Indonesia and owned by Trans Media, part of the CT Corp group founded by Chairul Tanjung, it is a general-entertainment network broadcasting nationwide in Indonesian, with English as a secondary language. Trans TV was officially launched on 15 December 2001, after a trial broadcast period that began on 25 October 2001. Its programming consists of newscasts, movies, drama series, variety shows, quiz shows and children's television series. Its headquarters are in the Trans Media Building on Jalan Kapten Pierre Tendean in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, and its official website is transtv.co.id.

Founding and launch in 2001

Trans TV was founded on 23 December 1999, with Chairul Tanjung and Ishadi S.K. recorded as its founders. The company was established under the name PT Televisi Transformasi Indonesia, based on a notarial deed dated 23 December 1998 in some corporate accounts, obtained its broadcast licence in the late 1990s and began commercial operation in 2001. Its trial broadcast ran in the autumn of 2001: test transmissions began in the Jakarta area and the station went on air in a trial of broadcasts to seven cities, Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya and Medan, in November 2001, initially with a limited daily schedule of entertainment, talk shows, music and quizzes. The station was run from the start by television industry figures including Ishadi S.K. and Alex Kumara. On 15 December 2001 Trans TV was officially opened for nationwide broadcasting, becoming the seventh local private television station on air in Indonesia at the time.

Ownership and the Trans Media group

Trans TV is owned by Chairul Tanjung through Trans Media, the media arm of CT Corp. It was owned by Trans Corp from 2001 to 2013 and by Trans Media from 2013 onwards. Its president director and sales and marketing director is Atiek Nur Wahyuni. Its sister channels are Trans7, CNN Indonesia and CNBC Indonesia, all based in the same Trans Media Building complex in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta. The station's long-running slogan is Milik Kita Bersama, meaning Belonging to Us Together. Within CT Corp, Trans TV is the group's flagship general-entertainment channel, while Trans7 provides a second entertainment service and CNN Indonesia and CNBC Indonesia, operated under international licences, provide news and business coverage.

Early programming strategy

From its inaugural broadcasts, Trans TV filled about seventy percent of its schedule with entertainment, mainly imported programming supplemented by local talk shows and interactive quizzes, with the remainder devoted to news. In its first phase it broadcast only a few hours a day before expanding. It built an early reputation for strong in-house production, particularly in non-drama formats: variety shows, infotainment, comedy, reality and films, aimed mainly at the ABC audience segment. Its early variety output included Extravaganza and The Dorce Show, hosted by Dorce Gamalama, and Indonesian versions of international formats such as Thank God You're Here, adapted as Akhirnya Datang Juga, and The Gong Show. Religious programmes, films, gossip shows, soap operas and regular news bulletins rounded out the schedule, a general-entertainment mix that the channel maintains in broad form today.

Ratings success and the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Trans TV achieved one of the defining moments of its history with football. The channel was Indonesia's main broadcaster of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, showing most group matches and all of the final matches, an achievement that led the channel to top Indonesian television ratings as of 19 June 2018. The World Cup rights were held across Trans Media, with sister channel Trans7 also broadcasting matches, including eight group-stage matches and shared coverage of the later rounds. The tournament demonstrated the pulling power of live sport for the network and remains the ratings landmark most often cited in summaries of the channel. In its first five years of operation the station had already established itself as one of the leading television stations in Indonesia and received numerous awards within the country and the region for innovative and high-quality programming.

Programming today

Trans TV's contemporary schedule follows the general-entertainment pattern set at its launch. News is provided through its own newscasts, including the Reportase strand. Entertainment programming spans variety shows, talk shows, comedy, reality formats, quiz and game shows, films, drama series and children's programmes, all primarily in Indonesian. The channel has historically been known for producing most of its non-drama programmes in-house rather than relying wholly on acquisitions, a capability it promotes as a speciality in variety, reality, comedy and drama production and in upgrading talent and viewer classes. Its productions have been recognised in Indonesian industry awards over many years, including Citra Pariwara's TV Station of the Year in 2013, Corporate Image awards across 2012 to 2014, a CNN Television Journalist Award in 2013, and festival recognition for its serial drama and Ramadan programming.

Visual identity

Trans TV's on-air identity is built around a diamond-shaped letter A motif, known as the Diamond A logo, which has been used since 2011. The logo in its current form dates from 2013. The diamond device is shared across the Trans Media television family in adapted forms, giving Trans TV and Trans7 a visibly related identity after the two channels came under common ownership. The channel broadcasts in 1080i high definition, downscaled to 16:9 576i for its standard-definition feed. In Greater Jakarta its digital terrestrial position is on 40 UHF, with local frequencies varying across its national network of relay stations.

Distribution and digital presence

Trans TV broadcasts nationwide free to air through its network of terrestrial transmitters, and is carried on Indonesian pay and streaming platforms. Its live stream is available through its official service and through IndiHome TV, Vidio, Vision+ and MIVO. Like other Indonesian national networks, it completed the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting as Indonesia's analogue switch-off proceeded region by region in 2022 and 2023. The channel's website, transtv.co.id, publishes its programme schedule, programme pages and live streaming, and the station maintains a large social media presence as part of CT Corp's wider digital operations, which also include the Detik news network and the streaming and digital services of Trans Media.

Trans TV and Trans7 together

A defining feature of Trans TV's later history is its pairing with Trans7. The two channels both began broadcasting in late 2001, Trans7 originally as TV7 under the Kompas Gramedia group. On 4 August 2006 CT Corp, then known as Para Group, acting through Trans Corp, was authorised to buy a 55 percent stake in TV7's company, PT Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh. On 15 December 2006, in conjunction with Trans TV's fifth anniversary, TV7 was rebranded as Trans7 and moved into Trans TV's building, making it the second CT Corp television network. Since then the two channels have operated as complementary entertainment services from the Trans Media Building, sharing major sports rights such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup and presenting a united front to advertisers, while keeping distinct programme identities.

Place in Indonesian television

Trans TV arrived in December 2001 as the seventh private network in a market that already included RCTI, SCTV, Indosiar, ANTV, TPI and Metro TV, and it quickly became one of Indonesia's leading stations. Its strengths have been consistent for more than two decades: strong in-house entertainment production, variety and comedy formats adapted and originated for Indonesian audiences, family and children's programming, films, and periodic major sports events, crowned by its role as main broadcaster of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when it topped the national ratings. As the flagship channel of Trans Media within Chairul Tanjung's CT Corp, headquartered in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, and broadcasting in Indonesian nationwide on transtv.co.id and across terrestrial, pay and streaming platforms, Trans TV remains one of the central general-entertainment networks of Indonesian television.