Villar’s ALLTV in broadcast deal with 300 cable firms

Manuel Villar-led Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS) announced on Wednesday its tie-up with the Philippine Cable and Telecommunications Association Inc. (PCTA) to air the network’s channel across the country.

The partnership allows the billionaire former senator’s ALLTV to be streamed in nearly additional 300 cable operators nationwide. It is currently available via Channel 2 on Free TV and Planet Cable, Channel 35 on Sky or CignalTV, Channel 32 on GSAT, Channel 23 on Cablelink and Channel 2 on other cable TV providers.

AMBS president Maribeth Tolentino said the deal between ALLTV and PCTA was “very significant to us because it will allow us to reach more homes, even the far-flung areas in the country.”

“This collaboration between AMBS and PCTA is very timely and I’d like to say that cable TV still plays an important role as far as distributing content or programs like this as we are the last mile in delivering content to the most far-flung areas across the country,” PCTA president Venancio Lo said.

Just last month, Tolentino and AMBS chief financial officer Maryknoll Zamora signed an agreement with CNN Philippines president Benjamin Ramos.

This involved the airing of CNN Philippines’ flagship news program “News Night,” anchored by CNN correspondent Pia Hontiveros, via ALLTV and CNN simultaneously. The segment runs from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m.

ALLTV said its program lineup includes the popular TV game show “Wowowin,” which is hosted by TV personality Willie Revillame. It also features TV host Toni Gonzaga’s talkshow “Toni Talks,” which initially started on Youtube.

TV personalities Mariel Rodriguez, Ciara Sotto and Anthony Taberna also recently signed with ALLTV.

Advanced Media, whose 25-year franchise extension was approved in 2019, took over the broadcast frequencies of ABS-CBN that were recalled from the company after former President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in Congress allowed its franchise to expire in 2020 in a move that was decried as politically motivated.

The National Telecommunications Commission gave Advanced Media a “test broadcast” permit to use the coveted Channel 2 spectrum last Jan. 6 and provisional authority to use digital TV frequencies in Metro Manila and Mega Manila on Channel 16.