November 21, 2000 - SPH MediaWorks Limited (MediaWorks) welcomed on board its Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Media Business Group, Melvin Ang, on November 15. In this position, Melvin is responsible for all business and marketing activities for the new TV channels. He heads up four business units within the Media Business Group: Business Planning & Operations, Corporate & Business Communications, Integrated Media Business and Product Planning & Development.

Melvin Ang brings with him more than 15 years experience in business development and marketing, of which three were spent at Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS). Early this year, Melvin left TCS to join novaSPRINT Pte Ltd as Chief Business Development & Marketing Officer cum Group Executive Vice President. The challenge of a new and dynamic broadcast company has proved irresistible for Melvin, who cited Mr Lee Cheok Yew, Chief Executive Officer of MediaWorks, and his plans for the company as deciding factors for his joining the team.

Said Melvin, 'We are going head-to-head with the competitor and we are aiming for 50% market share of TV advertising expenditure. With the launch of TV Works and Channel U, consumers and advertisers will have more choice, and we expect that competition will actually help to grow the market."

TV Works is the English television channel of MediaWorks and Channel U is its Chinese counterpart. The two channels will be launched by mid 2001.

To achieve this target, Melvin plans to adopt a fresh approach to delivering value for money to advertisers. Barely a week in his new position, he is busy visiting advertisers and agencies to share with them MediaWorks' business and airtime pricing policies. By doing so, he hopes to foster close working ties with the market.

'My team will do more than service advertisers as clients. We intend to become their business partners so that advertisers, advertising agencies and us can work towards the common goal of maximising their advertising dollar,' Melvin added.

Moving from the traditional way of charging for airtime, MediaWorks offers a flexible and accountable method of pricing airtime, instead of charging fixed rates, so that advertisers pay only for the value and exposure that their TV commercials receive.

'Our pricing strategy is a testament of our faith in the quality of our programmes. Airtime charges are tied to viewership and advertisers are charged based on the actual number of viewers for their advertisements," Melvin stressed.

"We also do not require separate accreditation from advertising agencies who are already accredited to SPH. This means current agencies accredited with SPH can do business with MediaWorks immediately without the hassle of getting any accreditation or satisfying certain business requirements which is today a market norm for agencies before they are eligible to do business with major media owners."

"In addition, MediaWorks is going to focus on the strength of integrated media so as to enhance value for its customers. MediaWorks will be developing its own radio and Internet platforms in the near future and will at the same time be working very closely with its parent company. SPH, to develop cross media product strategies for the marketplace."

With Melvin on board, the management team at MediaWorks, led by Mr Lee Cheok Yew, which now includes Chief Financial Officer, Mr Cheng Shoong Tat; COO of Chinese Media and Entertainment, Mr Man Shu Sum; and COO of English Media and Entertainment, Mr Jamal Hassim, is now complete and ready to take on the competition aggressively.

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited.