ESPN, Star channels return to SkyCable, Home Cable

Five of the country’s top cable television channels returned to the screens of many cable TV viewers starting last night.

This was after international distributor Star Group and the country’s two largest cable TV companies Sky Cable and Home Cable reached an agreement regarding arrears amounting to around P160 million. The agreement includes provincial cable TV operator Pilipino Cable Corp.

The agreement brought back ESPN, Star Movies, STAR Sports, National Geographic and STAR World into all their cable systems beginning midnight.

Officials said that the agreement, which was signed in Cebu Tuesday night (April 16), also includes a new contract between Star Group and Sky and Home Cable, which account for around 60 percent of the local market. The contract includes the terms for the immediate distribution of five Star channels on Sky Home and PCC’s respective cable systems in the country.

Noticeably absent in the new contract is the sixth channel, Viva Cinema, which is said to be one of the reasons why Sky and Home did not want to renew the expired contract last year.

It will be recalled that the Star Group pulled the plug on Sky and Home last year after the two cable firms, together with PCC, failed to settle, around P160 million in arrears.

On the one hand, Star and Home said they were being offered a bundle of six channels, including Viva, for $10 million, up from the existing contract’s $5.5 million. The two did not want to carry Viva and found the price too steep.

"We are really pleased to have resolved the matter enabling us to move forward in a positive and friendly manner to reach multi-year terms for the carriage of our channels across the Philippine’s largest and most important platform," Star Group president and chief operating officer Bruce Churchill said.

Churchill added that they look forward to playing an increasingly prominent role in meeting "the demand for quality sports, movies and entertainment programming from our viewers in the Philippines."

Together Sky Cable, Home Cable and PCC’s distribution platform account for 75 percent of household within the Philippines.

For his part, Beyond Cable chief operations officer Carlos V. Tria noted that with the return of the Star channels, their subscribers will now enjoy, more than ever, the widest range of quality programming than any other cable operator.

When the Star Group pulled out from Sky and Home, many subscribers chose to transfer to rival Destiny Cable, which continued its contract with Star. Star sources said that as a result, Sky and Home’s combined market share of around 70 percent went down to 60 percent due to their subscriber’s exodus to Destiny.

Beyond Cable was the holding company created last year to merge the operations of Sky Cable of the Lopez Group and Home Cable, controlled by Mediaquest which is a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). The Lopez Group and PLDT’s Mediaquest equally own 50-percent share each of Beyond Cable.