GMA7'S AD REVENUES DROPED IN Q3 IN SPITE OF SURGE IN NUTAM RATINGS!

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stocks Exchange GMA Network reported lower quarter to quarter advertising revenues from P3.14 billion in Q2 to P3.08 billion in Q3. The drop translates to a 2% decrease in ad revenues for channel 7 in spite of the surge in NUTAM ratings due to Eat Bulaga's ALDUB Phenomena. 

 

 

GMA's channel 7 snatched back the lead in NUTAM last September 2015, with an average audience share of 37.4%, 2.5 points higher than ABS-CBN's 34.9% share. Bulk of this ratings boost is credited from Eat Bulaga's phenomenal numbers with its ALDUB love team. The drop in channel 7's ad revenues was mainly due to the losing performances of its weekday primetime line up, which are consistently defeated by counterparts in  PrimetimeBida.

 

Eat Bulaga, through TAPE Inc, pays a fixed fee to GMA Network for buying its airtime. Thus any windfall from Eat Bulaga's commercial airtime has no direct effect on GMA's topline. 

GMA Network is already working on maximizing advertising revenues by launching new primetime programs in 2016. The broadcasting firm's primetime line-up in 2016 include the revival of Encantadia, and primetime series featuring GMA's bigget stars: Aden Richards, Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes.

With Political Ads already coming in, the continued popularity of ALDUB and the almost exclusive return of Colgate-Palmolive advertisements, GMA Network is far from reaching its maximum income potential. 

TVNETWORKWAR ORGINAL

ABS-CBN NOW NO.1 IN METRO MANILA!

ABS-CBN is now the most watched local channel in Metro Manila according to Kantar Media. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stocks Exchange, ABS-CBN reported a total day household rating of 13.7% in NCR, higher than GMA7's 13.5% rating for the July to September 2015 period. 

GOZON TO ANG: WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KEEP THE P1 BILLION!

GMA Network Inc chairman Felipe L. Gozon on Wednesday said the P1 billion that San Miguel Corporation (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang gave a down payment for a stake in the broadcast company is “intact and has not been used.”

"The Gozon Group has the right to retain it to answer for its claims for damages against Ang among others for opportunity loss, pursuant to law and the term sheet, as Ang prevented the transaction from conclusion and closing, by his unilateral decision not to proceed with the transaction and his imposition of new conditions after the purchase contract was perfected on March 21, 2015," Gozon said in a statement.

ANG FILES ESTAFA CASE AGAINST GOZON GROUP!

Business tycoon Ramon S. Ang filed estafa charges against GMA Network Chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon and his family members for allegedly swindling him of P1 billion in their talks for Ang to buy shares in the TV network.

MVP OPENS DOOR TO RENEW TALKS WITH GMA7!

MANILA – The PLDT Group may revive discussions for an investment in GMA Network Inc after the broadcast company ditched talks with San Miguel Corporation (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang.

"You know, we are always open to, as I said, to content providers like themselves. But as of now, there are no talks between ourselves and GMA7," Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) said Wednesday night.

AFTER TALKS COLLAPSE, RAMON ANG WANTS P1 BILLION DOWN PAYMENT RETURNED!

A miffed San Miguel president Ramon S. Ang said Tuesday he was seeking legal advice following an announcement from GMA Network terminating their year-long negotiations that would have allowed RSA to become the single biggest shareholder of the broadcast network.

The termination came after top executives from Globe Telecom, according to the grapevine, met with GMA chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon a month ago to discuss digital content and production partnerships.

SKY CABLE TO DIRECTLY CHALLENGE CIGNAL ON ITS TURF!

Sky Cable will soon offer satellite pay TV.

In a submission to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Sky Cable Corporation said it plans to spend P252 million for the rollout of direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service across 251 cities and municipalities. Also known as "direct-to-home," DBS transmits signals to subscribers using satellite. A unit of ABS-CBN Corporation, Sky Cable’s venture into satellite TV will pit it against three existing players, namely Cignal, Dream Satellite TV and GSat.

GOZON: GMA REGIONAL OFFICES! "LUGI'; 'WALA NANG SILBI"

GMA Network CEO, Atty. Felipe L. Gozon said workforce reduction in its regional offices was because "wala nang silbi", “The ratings and revenues are low,”; referring to the positions that were laid off.


“Malaki ang savings. Lugi kami eh. In short, wala nang silbi eh. Itong negosyo namin eh rating at revenue lang ito. ‘Yung ginawa namin no brainer lang iyon.”, said the chief honcho when asked for the reason of the manpower-reduction program.

During GMA's public disclosure for the first quarter financial results, Gozon revealed the company's  massive man-power reduction program is still ongoing with more lay-offs seen on its main office. 

RAMON ANG TO BACK OUT FROM BUYING GMA NETWORK?

Is businessman Ramon Ang still interested in buying a stake in GMA Network?

Even GMA Network Chairman Felipe Gozon isn't sure.

"I have to be very truthful to you. That was some time ago, so if I say that we are still close, nobody will believe me, so I won't say it. So at this point, let me just say that our attitude is 'wait-and-see.' The ball is no longer in our court," Gozon said when asked for an update on the deal with Ang at a press conference.

WOWOWIN'S DEBUT A HUGE SUCCESS IN MEGA MANILA!

Willie Revillame's grand television comeback reshaped the afternoon landscape as it breaks records according to AGB Nielsen's Mega Manila survey. The no-commercial break 1-hour WOWOWIN premiere raked 22.1% beating ABS-CBN's She's Dating the Gangster which only managed a 11.7%  in Mega Manila. The numbers Wowowin garnered is enough to outdo any other primetime show on either ABS-CBN or GMA 7. The success of WOWOWIN, however, has  little effect on GMA's ad revenue as all product placements and commercial airtime from WOWOWIN will all go to Willie being a blocktimer. This is much the same as Eat Bulaga where GMA's only consolation is the payment for buying their airtime. Of course, indirectly, the huge audience Willie was able to muster from WOWOWIN  is more than enough to help GMA's in-house produced programs to perform better in the numbers game.

TV5 CATCHES UP WITH ABS-CBN IN THE DIGITAL TV RACE!

MANILA - TV5 Network Inc is rolling out its digital TV service nationwide.

Emmanuel C. Lorenzana, TV5 president, said the company is spending P700 million over the next five years, with P300 million allotted for this year alone. The remaining P400 million would be spent through 2020.

"We already have, in fact we are transmitting digital in Channel 41 already. It’s just a matter of making the footprint bigger. Right now, it’s only National Capital Region," Lorenzana said.

"Not only bigger, but I want the transmission to be good in indoors, that's my priority," he said.

ABS-CBN REMAINS THE MOST PROFITABLE BROADCAST FIRM WITH Q1 PROFITS UP BY 5% TO P569 MILLION!

MULTIMEDIA conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp.  booked a 5.8-percent increase in its net income for the first quarter of 2015, owing to the increasing efficiencies in its operations.

The company’s net income was at P569 million as of end-March, up from the P538 million recorded during the same period the year prior.

Revenues rose to P8.4 billion from P8.2 billion, while total costs grew to P7.6 billion from P7.4 billion.

“I am very pleased with our performance for the first quarter,” Aldrin M. Cerrado, the company’s CFO, said on late Thursday.  “Advertising revenue growth has been robust and should accelerate over the coming months.”

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE RETURNS TO GMA 7!

GMA and Colgate-Palmolive are back together.

Commercials for Colgate and Palmolive quietly resurfaced on the Kapuso network last Sunday, April 5. This marked the first time since 2010 that the consumer products giant made its presence felt on the Kapuso side.

It can be recalled that Colgate and Palmolive products first aired on GMA after some disagreements with long-time partner ABS-CBN regarding ad rates. A few months later, however, CP’s products moved back to ABS-CBN after sales of their products declined during the company’s stint with GMA.

EXCLUSIVE: ABS-CBN'S TV & STUDIO PROFITS UP BY 39% TO P2.98 BILLION!

Contrary to universal belief, ABS-CBN's Studio and TV, (which excludes sky cable, ABS-CBNmobile, etc.) remains to be the money making segment of the ABS-CBN Group. The Broadcast group netted P2.98 billion in 2014, up by 39% year-on-year. Its other business segment which covers Sky Cable and other new businesses like ABS-CBNmobile netted a loss of P946 million, pullling down the combined net income of ABS-CBN to only Php2.03 billion in 2014.

GMA NETWORK DECLARES CASH DIVIDEND BIGGER THAN LAST YEARS' EARNINGS!

GMA Network Inc.’s board of directors yesterday approved the release of cash dividends totalling P1.215 billion at P0.25 per share.

In a statement, GMA said the cash dividends are payable on May 19, 2015 to shareholders on record as of April 24, 2015.  

The P1.215 billion dividends represent a payout ratio of 120 percent in relation to the company’s 2014 net income. Since its initial public offering in 2007, GMA has returned a total of P15.456 billion to its shareholders.

GMA NETWORK'S 2014 NET INCOME ONLY HALF OF ABS-CBN'S!

MANILA – GMA Network Inc. reported a 40 percent drop in its 2014 net income due to the absence of election-related advertisements.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the listed firm said its net income declined to P1.01 billion in 2014 from the P1.67 billion in 2013.

Gross revenues were down 7.8 percent to P11.94 billion in 2014 from P12.95 billion the previous year.

WILLIE SIGNS BLOCKTIME AGREEMENT WITH GMA NETWORK!

TV host Willie Revillame has already signed an airtime agreement with GMA Network today for his variety show on GMA7. News reports earlier indicated Revillame agreeing to buy airtime on GMA 7 for his entertainment show. The buzz cited the program will be aired in May this year and will occupy the 3:30 to 5:00 PM time slot every Sunday. It appears that the original plan to go against ASAP was put into shelf citing Willie's treasured friendship with Star Magic's head. 

However, unlike his deal with TV5, Revillame will receive no help from GMA in producing the show. The TV host alone will spend to produce the show and will also be paying Php 2 million to GMA for leasing its airtime every week. But of course, as with any blocktimer, Revillame will earn most of the airtime revenues and product placements for himself. GMA will still be monitoring the content, as they wish to avoid the fate of TV5 and ABS-CBN for receiving legal complaints from Willie's inappropriate TV hosting.

EXCLUDING ELECTION RELATED ITEMS, ABS-CBN REPORTS 42% JUMP IN PROFIT!

MANILA - Multimedia conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp. posted a net income of P2.030 billion in 2014, meeting its profit guidance of P2 billion.

ABS-CBN Corp. chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said last year's net income was slightly higher than 2013's P2.028 billion.

"We're happy to announce that we hit our profit guidance of P2 billion in terms of net income," Cerrado said at the ABS-CBN investors' briefing on Thursday.

Comparing last year's net income to 2013 without revenues from election-related advertising, the Lopez-led firm saw profit growth of 42 percent to P2.030 billion from P1.4 billion.

Excluding election-related spending, revenues went up 4.6 percent in 2014.

ABS-CBN DECLARES CASH DIVIDEND OF UP TO PHP510 MILLION!

ABS-CBN's Board of Directors approved the declaration of a cash dividend to common stockholders equivalent to sixty centavos (P0.60) per common share for stockholders of record as of March 20, 2015 payable on or before April 20, 2015. The cash dividend translates to Php510 million based from the company's outstanding share of 850, 801, 081 as of March 6, 2015.

ABS-CBN CONSOLIDATES 5 TRIVIAL SUBSIDIARIES!

Multimedia giant ABS-CBN Corp. on Friday said it was absorbing several wholly owned subsidiaries.

The company's board of directors on Thursday approved the merger of ABS-CBN Interactive, Inc., ABS-CBN Multimedia, Inc., Sarimanok News Network, Inc., Sapientis Holdings Corporation and Studio 23, Inc., with ABS-CBN as the surviving corporation.