SPH's 21%-owned JV wins S$1.82m digital display deal

A JOINT venture between mainboard-listed Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Chinese digital advertising company Focus Media has been tapped for the Housing Board's pilot project involving digital display screens at HDB estates.

Target Media Culcreative (TMCC), which is 21 per cent-owned by SPH, was the sole winner of the tender to install, operate and manage 6,000 such display panels, the joint-venture firm announced on Tuesday.

It beat out three other companies, including state investor Temasek Holdings' Mediacorp, with a successful bid of S$1.82 million that excludes fees for utilities and content solutions services.

TMCC will pay the hardware and software costs for the new screens to be built by June 2020, and must also pay a licence fee to the HDB, the company said in a statement.

The latest contract win, which TMCC chief executive Jeff Liu called a "challenging yet fulfilling project", will nearly double the company's network in HDB estates - where it already operates 8,000 digital display panels for seven town councils - to 14,000 screens in all.

The HDB unveiled plans in October to install digital screens in lifts and lift lobbies to "offer a rolling display of news and information" as part of the Republic's Smart Nation drive.

Airtime for commercial ads will be capped at 30 per cent of screen time on the display panels, which are intended to "complement the existing traditional notice boards", according to the HDB at the time.

Mr Liu has now said that "we understand how the DDPs (digital display panels) can bring vibrancy and relevance to HDB dwellers" and added that the screens "serve as an innovative channel and green initiative for the majority of Singaporeans to receive timely and relevant information".

SPH, which publishes The Business Times, closed up S$0.02 or 0.95 per cent to S$2.12 on Tuesday before the latest announcement. The tender was awarded by the HDB on Dec 13.