RCTI (abbreviated from Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia) is a West Jakarta-based Indonesian free-to-air television broadcaster.

It was first launched in 1989, originally as a local pay television operator that broadcasts mostly foreign programmes, before switching to free-to-air terrestrial network a year later.

[1] One of its commissioners at that time, Indra Rukmana, is the husband of Tutut Soeharto, the founder and ex-owner of its eventual sister network, TPI.

For Langlois, he previously worked on the California-based KCRA-TV, which later played a major role on form the programming of RCTI, which was designed to be look like private TV networks in the US.

[citation needed] Initially, RCTI was targeted to start broadcasting in September 1988 for 2–3 hours,[9] with entertainment (mostly imported films) and educational programs.

[12] RCTI was officially inaugurated on 24 August 1989 morning by President Suharto as Indonesia's first privately owned commercial television network.

RCTI was initially broadcast to Greater Jakarta area as a local pay television channel and gained a nationwide terrestrial license a year later.

[16] Those problematics led to RCTI's act to negotiate the government to change its status into a free-to air television network like TVRI.

[18] Eventually on 11 July 1990, Minister of Information Harmoko officially announced the government's plan to abolish the mandatory of the usage of decoders for private TV networks.

[16] Later on 1 August, the government issued the permission for private TV networks to broadcast free-to air, via the Letter of the Directorate General of Radio, Television, and Film of the Department of Information, No.

On 24 August 1990, coinciding with its 1st anniversary, RCTI officially abolished the subscription policy and began to freely broadcast in the same network, 43 UHF.

Shortly thereafter, RCTI rapidly expanded its coverage to Yogyakarta, Jayapura, Surakarta, Semarang, Banjarmasin, Pontianak, Batam and other cities in the following years.

These new programs targeted for all groups (but considered leading towards higher-classes), and helped RCTI gain the first rank in television rating.

[28][29] The 1997 Asian financial crisis forced RCTI to change their management structure due to its major loss up to Rp 90 billion.

On its 11th anniversary in 2000, RCTI introduced a newer version of their logo, and the position of the digital on-screen graphic was moved from upper-right to upper-left corner.

There are same with IPTV service when affected a Carriage dispute with IndiHome at 8 April 2016, MNC Media will remove all Local Cable Operators due to copyright infringement and broadcasting contract concern prior to UEFA Euro 2016 and AFF Championship in 2016.

Formerly, it also airs weekly television series like Bella Vista, Mutiara Cinta (Pearls of Love), Shangri-La, Tuyul dan Mbak Yul, the fantasy-comedy Bidadari Yang Terluka (A Wounded Angel),[34] and ABG.

[35] Commercial MNC Media also shows the national team but from 2020 until 2024, MNC only covered the national team matches at AFF Championship and 2023 AFC Asian Cup (had qualified to the finals tournament) due to MNC–Lagardère (AFF Championship) and Football Marketing Asia (AFC Asian Cup) broadcasting rights partnership contract.

RCTI shows Subuh and Maghrib prayer calls (adhan) in some transmitter stations, including Jakarta and Bandung.

The prayer calls are best known for using a recording of Sheikh Ali Ahmed Mulla, a well-known muezzin of Masjid al-Haram in Saudi Arabia Some RCTI transmitter stations also broadcast local programming.

They are mostly shown during the final half-hour of Seputar iNews Pagi (05:30-06:00 WIB or, depending on the local area, 06:30-07:00 WITA and 07:30-08:00 WIT) RCTI is available as a free-to-air channel in East Timor, but only in Dili and other cities such as Ermera and Baucau.