SkyCable to convert 80% of subscribers to digital

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-owned SkyCable Corp. is going full throttle in its shift from analog to digital transmission as it aims to convert at least 80 percent of its subscribers to the new platform by yearend, The STAR learned.

This means a 100 -percent increase in the number of its subscribers using digital transmission. At present, about 60 percent of SkyCable’s subscribers are still on analog.

Company officials told The STAR that the move is being resorted to largely to minimize, if not totally put a stop, to cable television signal piracy.

SkyCable has around 500,000 CATV subscribers, of which 200,000 are in Metro Manila.

The use of digital set-top boxes prevents signal piracy since only televisions that have these boxes, where the channels are encrypted, can receive the signals.

Last year, the company invested around P700 million largely for the cable TV operator’s shift from analog to digital.

SkyCable chief operations officer Carlo Katigbak earlier said around P200 to P300 million were used to install more digital set-top boxes among cable TV subscribers.

The company, which earlier acquired the assets of PLDT subsidiary Home Cable Corp., has already spent around $2 million for the station’s  headend and around $4.5 million for the acquisition of digital set-top boxes.

SkyCable earlier acquired Home Cable via a share-swap scheme, with the latter’s owners ending up with a 33.33-percent share and the Lopez Group, 66.67 percent. However, because of the conversion into equity of debts extended by another Lopez-owned company, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. to SkyCable, and the PLDT Group’s failure to put in more money to preserve the ownership structure, the PLDT Group’s stake in SkyCable has been reduced to nine percent.

As of March of last year, in Metro Manila alone, SkyCable has already installed 90,000 digital boxes, with another 60,000 to 70,000 scheduled to be put in.