SINGAPORE -- It'll be a not-so happy New Year for more than 200 TV staffers left jobless on Jan. 1.
English-lingo Channel i has shuttered, a casualty of the merger between MediaCorp TV and Singapore Press Holdings' MediaWorks less than 18 months after the advent of competition in terrestrial TV.
Print giant Singapore Press Holdings bowed Channel i and Chinese-lingo Channel U after May 2002's media liberalization.
However, the advertising market could not support the extra competition.
Channel U will become part of the MediaCorp Group this month.
Staff numbers will be cut to run the merged TV and studio operations, in which MediaCorp owns 80% and SPH 20%.
Chinese-lingo names of MediaCorp TV's Channel 5 and 8 have been changed to accommodate Channel U, and U's news bulletin will be moved.
Government body Media Development Authority approved MediaCorp's and SPH's application to merge their mass-market TV operations.
"The MDA hopes that the consolidation will lead to better quality programs and services for local audiences as well as markets overseas," says a statement. "The synergies created will benefit MediaCorp and SPH and allow both to work toward regionalization."
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