On October 1987, state broadcasterTVRI lost its monopoly when the government allowed private television stations to begin broadcasting. RCTI was officially inaugurated on the morning of24 August 1989 by President Suharto as Indonesia's first privately-owned commercial television network. Evening programming was launched by Minister of InformationHarmoko. RCTI was initially broadcast to Jabodetabek area as a local pay television channel and was awarded a nationwide terrestrial license one year later. RCTI at the time only aired foreign programming as it cost cheaper compared to self-produced programming. RCTI was initially co-owned by PT Rajawali Wira Bhakti Utama and PT Bimantara Citra, thus its name. It is completely owned by MNC, which also owns Global TV and MNCTV, both private Indonesian television stations. RCTI now has 47 relay stations around Indonesia and reaches 180 million viewers.
Programming
The flagship news program is Seputar iNews, which has morning, lunchtime and late-night editions. RCTI also broadcasts quiz shows, including the Indonesian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which ran from 2001 to 2006. Cartoon shows include the original Aikatsu! series, Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan, the latter has since been replaced by locally produced Kiko . RCTI currently broadcast several daily soap operas, as well as occasional sport programmes and localized version of talent shows, such as Indonesian Idol, Rising Star Indonesia, and MasterChef Indonesia.
Other segments
RCTI only shows Maghrib prayers in some cities, including Jakarta and Bandung. Some RCTI stations also broadcast local programming. For example, RCTI Jawa Timur airs Seputar iNews Jatim, while in Bandung, Seputar iNews Jabar is aired. The Palembang station shows Seputar iNews Sumsel, the Batam station shows Seputar iNews Kep. Riau and the Medan station shows Seputar iNews Sumut. They are mostly shown during the final half-hour of Seputar iNews Pagi
Overseas broadcasting
RCTI is available as a free-to-air channel in East Timor, but only in Dili and other cities such as Ermera and Baucau. RCTI is also available in Malaysia as a free-to-air channel in Johor Bahru, and in Singapore as a free-to-air channel by using antenna. RCTI is the only Indonesian free-to-air TV channel to be broadcast free-to-air outside Indonesia. Indonesian drama series like Bunga di Tepi Jalan, Bintang, Liontin and Pernikahan Dini currently air on Astro Aruna, a channel on the Singaporean SingTelmio TV 24 Hours IPTV Pay TV Service, but these were broadcast on RCTI on 2001, 2005 and 2006 respectively.
