PETALING JAYA: Chartered accountant turned entrepreneur Noor Azman Yusof plans to capitalise on the niche market business community with his new local business and finance television channel, Capital TV.

In an exclusive interview, Azman, CEO of Online Dynamics Sdn Bhd, told The Edge Financial Daily of his inspiration and aspirations for the channel and how its collaboration with Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) Internet protocol television (IPTV) platform will help boost the channel to prominence in the still nascent waters of IPTV.

The general public may be familiar with business news channels such as Bloomberg and CNBC, but these channels are more focused on movements in the capital markets, foreign exchange markets as well as the European and US economies with little or no coverage on the local business scene. Capital TV’s channels range from focusing on capital markets to entrepreneurship to personal finance.

Its morning show Morning Bell with the tagline “Market Platform for Market Opinion” is anchored by ex-RHB Unit Trust CEO, Datuk Nik Ezar Nik Bolia, who was originally interviewed on an earlier episode of the show.

“Nobody has ever done this. I think we’ll go very far … I always asked myself how come we don’t have a business channel that caters to businessmen like me?” said Azman.

His company conducted a market survey and found that the Malaysian economy was not only driven by big corporations and capital markets but by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) too.

“Our business channel concept is not just about capital markets but also about entrepreneurship, about business opportunities, corporate movements … basically a more [holistic] view,” he said.

A chartered accountant by profession, Azman started out at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) UK and then PwC Malaysia. He moved to the Peremba group where he worked with Setia Haruman Sdn Bhd, the master developer of Cyberjaya.

He ventured into the business world with the acquisition of Online Dynamics in 2004. Azman currently holds a 65.5% stake in the company, while Essem Capital Sdn Bhd, Sharinaz Shafee and Fauziah Din hold 22.2%, 11.1% and 1.1% respectively. The company has a paid-up capital of RM900,000.

Azman stressed that its target market is not the mass media but rather professionals, executives and business owners, like him.

To date, the group has spent some RM2 million in developing content for the channel, purchasing equipment, and to set up a studio in Petaling Jaya.

Capital TV is available exclusively on TM’s Hypp TV, under a three-year collaboration partnership where it licenses programme content to TM.

However, while some may see this as restrictive for the channel’s outreach, Azman believes that there are many things Capital TV can leverage with the IPTV platform.

Azman’s strategy is to build a strong audience base, and increase viewership in the first year and then focus on attracting advertisers and sponsors.

“In the first year, it’s more realistic to build an audience … make it more enticing to advertisers and sponsors, build up the value. Without any audience, nobody would sponsor,” he said.

He aims to capture between 20% and 30% of the 400,000 UniFi subscribers TM targets by the year-end.

OSK Research, in a recent report, said this is a conservative target as TM has already achieved 80% of the numbers in early April.

It said YTL Communications Sdn Bhd and Maxis Bhd are also targeting an IPTV product base but have yet to divulge any details.

On the possibility of heightened competition, Azman said: “Personally I like competition, it makes me aim to do better.”

“To build a channel is not easy and neither is it cheap. It’s lucky we have a partnership with TM as they are committed,” he added.

Capital TV is available on channel 127 on Hypp TV.

This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, April 16, 2012.