SINGAPORE: The Media Development Authority (MDA) has pumped in more money to support public broadcasting of Malay and Tamil programmes by MediaCorp.

Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said funding for Malay programmes went up by 12 per cent, while that for Tamil programmes was higher by 27 per cent compared with FY 2008.

He said this in Parliament, in response to questions from MP for Hong Kah GRC, Zaqy Mohamad.

Mr Zaqy wanted to know how big the increase in funding is, as well as how often the MDA reviews the funding and the proportion of re-runs on the Malay and Tamil channels.

Mr Lui said the increased funding has improved the quality of programmes and reduced repeat rates. For example, the repeat rate for Vasantham, MediaCorp’s Tamil language channel, is comparable to Channel 8. And that of Suria, the Malay language channel, is comparable to Channel 5 and Channel NewsAsia.

Mr Lui said the true test is in viewership, and pointed out that Suria and Vasantham have done well.

Compared with three years ago, viewership for Suria has gone up more than 65 per cent during the prime time belt to about 67,000 last year.

Prime time viewership for Vasantham has gone up by about 50 per cent, to 36,000 viewers since it was launched as a standalone channel.

- CNA/sc