KUALA LUMPUR: After 14 years of "fighting" for their rights over television programmes, television producers are optimistic that Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) will finally reach a win-win situation with them.
Malaysian Television Producers Association (PTVM) president Datuk Jurey Latiff Rosli said they were hopeful that the new director-general of broadcasting Datuk Che Ruslan Che Daud would end the public television station's full ownership of programmes sold to it by producers.
"We have been urging RTM to reconsider its complete ownership of television programme copyrights since 2008.
"We have been asking for partial control of our products, as they generate income for us especially during challenging times as this one," he said in an interview with Berita Harian Online today.
Jurey and PTVM members paid a courtesy call to Che Ruslan in Angkasapuri recently. Che Ruslan took office on Jan 3 suceeding Datuk Ruzain Idris.
"Television producers do not have control over their products once they are sold to RTM. PTVM is asking for RTM to return our copyrights and intellectual property after several years," he said.
Jurey also said that once RTM returned the copyrights of television programmes to producers, they could then sell them to Over The Top (OTT) plartforms which have become increasingly popular.
"Government television stations like RTM do not have to depend on advertising revenue like private television stations, as the government allocates funds to them.
"Therefore, it is only fair that producers' intellectual property and copyrights be returned to them, so that they can generate more income by selling their programmes to OTT platforms."