NTC sustains Sky Cable on TV 5 signal issue

MANILA, Philippines - The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has reaffirmed Sky Cable’s position that the cable TV provider is not responsible for the unexplained poor broadcast transmission signal of TV5 in Cebu, as earlier alleged by the TV network in a media report.

To resolve the matter, Sky Cable has sought the assistance of NTC’s regional office based in Mandaue City to conduct a series of inspections to investigate complaints on what have been perceived as tampering of free-TV stations signals.

The NTC conducted tests to monitor TV5’s signal using a portable TV receiver in different locations inside Sky Cable headend compound, located in the Banilad district of Mandaue City, and the results showed a double image reception of TV5’s signal when viewed on Channel 21 (TV5’s channel assignment on Sky Cable in the province).

The tests confirmed that the reflected signal from the nearby mountains of Busay and Bagbag, Cebu was causing the double image. The same monitoring exercise was likewise conducted outside of the Sky Cable compound and yielded the same results.

Moreover, in another round of monitoring of TV5 signal that was made in the headend of another cable TV provider (Destiny Cable) located in Paknaan, Mandaue City in reference to TV5’s transmitter location, similar result of a double image effect from TV5 was also reported.

The technical engineering team from NTC Cebu and representatives from TV5 and Sky Cable participated in the joint investigation.

 Rodrigo P. Montinola, Sky Cable head of marketing said: “The result of the NTC inspection validates Sky Cable’s assertion that we do not engage in tampering of free-to-air channels aired on Sky Cable.”