GMA Network Inc., one of the country’s largest broadcast companies, hopes to select a telecommunications partner this year in line with the launch of its digital television service.
GMA chair and CEO Felipe Gozon said there were ongoing talks with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom, which have the infrastructure to deliver its content, but so far an agreement has not materialized.
A key issue was the fact that each telco required exclusivity with GMA, Gozon said.
“We have been talking with them, and we are still talking. So I am hoping this will end. We cannot forever be talking with each other,” Gozon said during the company’s second quarter earnings briefing.
He added the plan was to arrive at a decision before the end of 2016. During this period, other details on digital television needed to be finalized, including issues related to programming.
“It’s important that we should have a telco partner,” he said. “The telcos have the highways, we have the cars and buses, in other words, content. So we have to marry the two.”
ABS-CBN already launched its digital television service last year. The rollout of the digital television, which promises clearer picture and sound quality alongside more channels, comes after the National Telecommunications Commission finalized the implementing guidelines in December 2014.
The update came as GMA announced higher earnings in the first half of 2016, bolstered by election-related advertising ahead of the May 9, 2016 polls.
GMA announced Monday that profit hit P2.38 billion, up 116 percent. It was still keeping its full-year profit target of P3 billion, GMA chief financial officer Felipe Yalong said in the same briefing.
GMA’s consolidated revenues for the six-month period jumped 32 percent to P8.760 billion on the back of election-related earnings together with the sustained growth in recurring advertisements.
Total airtime sales reached a record P8.1 billion, up 33 percent. Removing the impact of political ads, airtime revenues still grew by 10 percent, GMA said.