Broadcast news

Everything seems to be in the bag, so to speak, as far as Tonyboy Cojuangco acquiring ABC-5 is concerned.

Highly placed sources say that Tonyboy and his partners are paying the remaining P3.5 billion of the P4 billion for the network middle of September (the group earlier made a P500-million downpayment). The due diligence investigation (being conducted by several parties including former GMA 7 executive Bobby Barreiro and former PLDT official Iggy Yenko who however denies that he is involved) is expected to wrap up early September after which the definitive purchase agreement will be signed between Tonyboy and ABC 5 owner Edward Tan.

There are reports that Tonyboy’s group will officially takeover ABC 5 beginning January 2004 after a one month sign off. There are reports that the network will be transferring its facilities and offices from Novaliches to somewhere in the heart of Quezon City.

In other developments, how true is it that former RPN 9 executive Kitchie Benedicto is taking over Serge Remonde as president of Channel 9? Kitchie has done wonders for the network when she was handling it and that is probably what government needs so that it can attract buyers for this overpriced station.

Will NTC act on signal pirates?

Cable TV operators are asking the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to act decisively on signal pirates and implement existing laws on the carriage of content.

The issue of signal pirating came to fore after Destiny Cable allegedly started carrying channels pirated from a South African DTH (direct-to-home) service in the guise of a "test broadcast". Destiny began airing M-NET Variety, Movie Magic and Super Sports which are not licensed for carriage in the Philippines. The signals of the three channels are being picked up from DTH provider M-NET without the benefit of commercial programming arrangements.

The NTC has been trying to formulate rules that will put foreign program providers under its jurisdiction, just as cable is. However, it seems it has not done enough to implement existing rules, in particular, those against signal piracy that rob legitimate cable operators of revenues and market share.

There are also reports that Destiny was illegally downlinking MTV Asia too. That is why when MTV encrypted, Destiny was cut.

Let us just hope that NTC commissioner Armi Jane Borje will look into this matter seriously so she can prove to everyone that she is not favoring Destiny, especially after rumors have it that she once lawyered for Destiny’s broadband affiliate.

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