PLDT AND GLOBE VIE FOR CONTENT PARTNERSHIP WITH ABS-CBN!

LISTED BROADCASTER ABS-CBN Corp. is open to partnering with telecommunication companies to distribute its content through other media platforms and generate revenues, a senior company official said yesterday.

  “We are open to partnerships with telcos for content distribution,” Rolando P. Valdueza, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a telephone interview yesterday, when asked to confirm reports the company is in talks with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom, Inc. for such partnership.

“Our business is primarily content, so we can monetize that by partnering with telcos for distribution to all media platforms,” he added.

But Mr. Valdueza said the company “is presently not in talks” with any telecommunication firm.

“But we are definitely open,” he pointed out.

The broadcaster, led by the Lopez family, has other investments in media content aside from its flagship TV channel aired under Channel 2 in Mega Manila.

The company also owns other media outfits such as ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. (print); Start Recording, Inc. (audio and video production); ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (movie production); and Studio 23, Inc. (content development and programming services); while it controls paid TV company Sky Cable Corp.

Early this month, the company announced that it will be issuing one billion voting preferred shares at 20 centavos each to its present stockholders in December in line with capital restructuring.

The broadcaster’s net income dipped by 44.49% to P927 million in the first half from P1.67 billion in the same period last year due to one-time gain realized following the sale of 40% of Sky Cable to a Singaporean investor last year.

The company last year sold 40% of Sky Cable Philippine Depository Receipts to Singaporean company STT Communications Ltd. for P1.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the company’s consolidated revenues grew by 9% in the first semester to P15.3 billion on higher advertising and sales revenues, said in a statement last month.

Total operating expenses increased by 12% to P12.5 billion “brought about by increases in production cost, cost of sales and services, and general administrative expenses.”

Shares of ABS-CBN were unchanged at P30.20 apiece yesterday. -- C. H. C. Venzon

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