P-Noy signs law revitalizing PTV-4

MANILA, Philippines - The state-run television network is in dire straits no more.

Malacanang announced yesterday President Aquino has finally signed a law revitalizing government-owned People’s Television 4, providing a total of P5 billion capitalization in the next three years, for it to compete with top local private commercial networks.

Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office that supervises PTV-4 said Republic Act 103901 would solve the “financial hemorrhage” the government network has been suffering.

The P3 billion will be allocated in the General Appropriations Act for the next three years (or P1 billion per year) starting in 2014, while the P2 billion balance will be sourced from the planned “privatization” of state-sequestered TV networks RPN-9 and IBC-13.

What is most important, according to him, is PTV-4 can now generate its own revenues through advertisements, since the 10-year ban has been lifted with signing of the new law that will take effect April 16.

The government network’s resources had been depleted when Aquino took over the presidency in July 2010. PTV-4 then was “fully dependent” on its ability to generate its own sources of revenues with the help of only two revenue-generating agencies: Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

It was also “dependent only on discretionary fund releases from the Office of the President as well as congressional insertions in the old budgeting process,” Coloma disclosed.

The new law gives the network the “authority to collect commercial revenues.”

Coloma assured the country’s biggest networks, that PTV-4 will not be directly competing with them, particularly on running telenovelas that have become very popular among the Filipino masses.

“We will not compete directly with them because our programming will focus on news and public information. If we look at the fare being offered by commercial media, it is primarily entertainment, which is more than 50 percent,” he pointed out.

Instead, the government media will be “featuring the heroism of our Medal of Valor or Gold Cross awardees, or of the Dangal ng Bayan awardees of the civil service, or outstanding public school teachers, outstanding policemen, soldiers.”