PLDT rolling out satellite television service in Q3

After getting out of the cable television sector, telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is now going after the same cable TV market but through a different route – satellite television.

Smart Communications chief wireless adviser Orlando Vea revealed that PLDT, through wholly-owned subsidiary Mediascape, is launching in the third quarter its very own direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service with an initial investment of P700 million.

According to Vea, who also heads Mediascape, they are now rolling out the needed network for the DTH satellite TV service. “We are still talking to possible suppliers for the boxes but those are easy to source.”

Mediascape is owned by Mediaquest Holdings, the wholly-owned retirement fund subsidiary of PLDT.

PLDT’s foray into the DTH business will put it in direct competition with Dream Broadcasting, the country’s first and currently the only DTH service provider in the country which is owned by businessman and former PLDT chairman and owner Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco.”

Vea said PLDT’s DTH offering will be “different,” offering the service at prices much more affordable than those being offered by Dream. “We will have different packages catering to different segments of the market,” he pointed out.

It will be recalled that negotiations initiated by PLDT to acquire Dream Broadcasting bogged down due to serious disagreements over pricing. PLDT then had a joint venture agreement with US DTH giant Echostar Communications but the partners needed a company that had a local DTH license.

It was after failed talks with Dream that PLDT explored the possibility of acquiring another local DTH licensee, GV Broadcasting Systems Inc. owned by Vea’s group.

After successfully acquiring GV Broadcasting, whose name later changed to Mediascape, PLDT and Echostar encountered major disagreements over the planned venture, resulting in a junking of the joint venture agreement.

PLDT’s entry into the DTH business will also put it indirectly in competition with the cable TV industry. It will be recalled that PLDT, through Mediaquest, used to own Home Cable until the latter’s facilities were sold to the Lopez Group’s SkyCable in exchange for a minority position in SkyCable.

PLDT currently holds a 33.33 percent stake in SkyCable while the Lopezes own 66.67 percent. However, PLDT’s stake will be severely diluted to less than 10 percent once certain debts owed by SkyCable to ABS-CBN Broadscasting Corp. are converted into equity.

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan earlier told The STAR that he pulled out of the cable TV business and instead wants to enter the DTH arena because the latter holds more promise, aside from the fact that he has no control over the CATV business, PLDT being a minority stakeholder.

With PLDT again in direct competition with the Lopezes who also own Bayan Communications, industry observers  note that “the Lopezes can make life hard for PLDT’s DTH business in terms of content.” The Lopezes’ ABS-CBN is a major content provider.