Harbin, China, February 14, 2025: When Kelly Elizabeth Supangat took to the ice to the music of Adele in the women’s single skating event at the Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025 she was being watched by hundreds of thousands of Indonesians back home.
Kelly might have been unaware, but the seven-day fiesta which draws to an end today, February 14, has been telecast live in Indonesia for the first time in Asian Winter Games history.
“Why did Indonesia buy the broadcasting rights for winter sports? This is a question I get from everyone,” smiles Linda Wahyudi, executive producer for MNCTV, one of the biggest private television operators in the country.
“The answer is simple. We want to inspire the next generation to become an Olympian. Everyone is aware of the Summer Olympics, where Indonesia has had its fair share of success, but not so much about the Winter Games. We are hoping to change that,” says Wahyudi.
“We want to create a new set of young athletes and tell them to look at the Winter Olympics, and tell them you can be a champion here too,” she adds.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Veddriq Leonardo won a gold medal in men’s speed climbing and Rizki Juniansyah lifted the gold in the men’s -73kg weightlifting event.
Both are not traditional sports, for in Indonesia badminton reigns supreme with all eight previous Olympic gold medals coming in this sport - remember Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma?
Popular television station MNCTV – rated among the top two in the country of 280 million people – has dedicated special channels for the AWG showpiece. While news networks show clips which are free-to-air, Indonesians had only to fork out 40,000 Rupiah (less than US$3) to gain access to all the action from Harbin and Yabuli over the last seven days.
“The response has been great. Our aim is to promote winter sports not only in Indonesia, but across Southeast Asia,” says Wahyudi.
The decision to telecast all the action from the AWG was met with the thumbs up from the National Olympic Committee of Indonesia. While many of the smaller NOCs struggle to raise the profile of winter sports, here we have one of the biggest TV stations in the country showing live action.
“Yes, you can say that the Indonesian NOC is very pleased,” says Wahyudi.
