ABS-CBN goes to Europe in Aug

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., the country’s number one TV network, will launch its European operations in August, chief executive officer Eugenio L. Lopez III said at the sidelines of the company’s stockholders meeting last Thursday.

Lopez said the company is still in discussions with the satellite provider and expects talks to be finalized next month. "There are more than one million Filipinos in Europe and our plan is to launch it in August," he said.

He said while the revenue stream may not come immediately, the market has great potentials.

Apart from this, Lopez said ABS-CBN is also looking at expanding its presence in Canada given the high concentration of Filipinos in the country. "We’re hoping to get it done this year," he said.

The broadcast firm wants to make full use of the satellite it uses for its Middle East operations.

Just like in the US and Middle East, the ABS-CBN lineup will include The Filipino Channel (TFC), which shows top-raters; ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC); Cinema One, an all-movie channel; and Pinoy Central, the variety channel which has entertainment and sports features.

Lopez expects international operations to grow by 30 to 40 percent this year even as its Middle East operations are not doing well as a result of the US-led war in Iraq.

ABS Global Ltd. is the holding company which runs The Filipino Channel, ABS-CBN News Channel, Cinema One, and Pinoy Central in the US and the Middle East. It has 148,000 subscribers worldwide. The company’s sales for 2002 grew by 36 percent to P1.911 billion.

ABS Global’s contribution to ABS-CBN’s income fueled the six-percent growth in the network’s 2002 revenues. Other subsidiaries which pushed the broadcast firm’s revenues to P10.91 billion last year were Creative Programs, Inc., ABS-CBN Publishing, and Star Records.