ABS-CBN allots P10 B for capex over 5 yrs

MANILA, Philippines - Multimedia giant ABS-CBN Corp. is spending P10 billion for its capital expenditures over the next five years almost half of which would be used for the production of television programs as well as movies, a ranking official informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday.

ABS-CBN chief information officer Eulogio Martin Masilungan said the amount would be spent over the next five years starting this year.

Masilungan said ABS-CBN is spending P4 billion for production forward planning including production canning or advanced production of television programs and movies as well as construction of sound stages.

He said another P3 billion would be used starting this year until 2019 for the company’s general capital expenditures.

He added that P2 billion would be used for the capital expenditure program of its pay TV business under SkyCable Corp. 

According to him, ABS-CBN would also be used by the company for its shift to digital terrestrial television.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has already issued a memorandum circular for “Standard for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcast Service” adopting Japan’s Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial or ISDB-T standard instead of Europe’s Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial 2 or DVB-T2.

ABS-CBN is raising as much as P10 billion this year from the issuance of retail corporate bonds to bankroll its capital expenditures including its venture into the telecommunications business as well as the country’s shift to digital television.

The fund raising activity would initially involve P5 billion worth of retail corporate bonds with an option to raise an additional principal amount of up to P5 billion.

ABS-CBN through ABS-CBN Convergence has tied up with Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. last May to launch ABS-CBNmobile as a third player in the competitive telecommunications industry dominated by rivals Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe.

Last Nov. 19, ABS-CBN mobile was launched after the company gave away 100,000 subscribers identification module (SIM) cards to survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda to help them communicate with family and friends. It also made available another 100,000 SIM cards to sell in Metro Manila and other areas not affected by the typhoon to enable the sharing of load with the survivors.