New year, new MBC

Elizalde-owned Manila Broadcasting Corp. (MBC) is entering the 2024 Year of the Dragon as a fire-spewing 85-year-old dragon ready to claim its place in digital TV generation and probably, end up being the top dragon.

MBC’s history was founded on its legacy business of radio broadcasting.  It started out as a “mom and pop” radio station in Escolta, Manila way back in 1934, but was formally founded in 1939 as kzRH, now known as dzRH.  Over the decades, the company has evolved from a purely broadcast entity to a multi-platform business, thanks to the strategic expansion of its channels and services.

Last Tuesday, Feb 6, MBC celebrated its 85th anniversary milestone with a trade event that included a studio tour of its rebuilt facilities, dinner, and an eye-popping raffle to thank its trade partners for helping it achieve its nationwide status today.

In attendance were the Elizalde family and their patriarch, media mogul Fred Elizalde, his wife Liza Macuja-Elizalde, along with children Juan Elizalde and Sasha Elizalde-Del Rosario.

The biggest announcement, however, was the transformation of MBC into the MBC Media Group that will focus on six major platforms, starting with its legacy business to be known as MBC Radio, the MBC Digital, MBC TV, MBC Events, MBC Promos and MBC Talents.

For its legacy business, MBC Radio now operates six radio station networks, with 200 radio stations, led by its popular dzRH, YES FM, Easy Rock, Radyo Natin and Action Radyo.  Those radio stations have borne popular talents including well known disc jockeys (DJs) Tanya Chinita, Chris Tsuper, Nicole Hyala, Diego Bandido. Upcoming DJs are Ganda Wanda, Maria Morena and Biboy Bibo.

Led by its chairman Fred Elizalde and his wife, artistic director and CEO of Ballet Manila, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, the MBC Media Group is ably managed, with plans and visions by its president and current chairman of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Jun Nicdao,  together with its senior vice president for operations Juan Elizalde, and sister, assistant vice president for digital media Sasha Elizalde-Del Rosario. Nicdao and the two Elizalde siblings form the trio planning team of the MBC Media Group.

The aim of the MBC Media Group is to grow its various businesses, to be even more competitive in its market.

According to Mr. Nicdao, “We are big in radio, and we will grow the other businesses like television, events, promos, talents and digital, especially digital.”

In fact, the MBC Media Group, he said, intends “to grow them even bigger” and probably in a couple of years, achieve the status that former Lopez-led ABS-CBN had attained.

At present, the group has only three provincial stations.  Mr. Nicdao tells us this is not competitive.  “You have to have a Mega Manila station to be competitive. The group is just waiting to be given a permit by the (NTC) National Telecommunications Commission) to be given a frequency. He explains further, “We already have a franchise, then you need to apply with the NTC for a permit to operate.  We have applied with the NTC a long time ago, and they promised we will be given one, once the industry transitions to digital (broadcasting).”

He elaborated that there is already an identified ASO or Analog Shut Off date, which is June 2024.  After this date, all broadcasts by all mediums should shift to digital broadcast, and analog systems shall not be given permits thereafter.

Mr. Nicdao said they would operate on the UHF band, which means upwards of channel 20.  He thinks the NTC has already granted Channels 14-45 and the group could secure a channel somewhere from channel 40-45.

The group plans that as soon as it receives the permit, it will start its research on the content it will put out. The MBC Media Group president acknowledges that  going into TV broadcasting will be more competitive.  They plan to develop new homegrown content and acquire content as well.  They are also open to partnerships with existing broadcast stations, and acquisition of content as well.  Also, they will acquire both local and foreign content to be competitive in the industry.

The MBC Media Group, Nicdao points out, already has its core strength in the news sector, specifically through its radio, and thus the difficult part will be in producing content that they do not produce now although they already have cable TV. He stresses, “To be more competitive, we have to produce the more popular programs that resonate with the mass audience. You are talking about soap operas, telenovelas and things like that.”

On the infrastructure side, Mr. Nicdao revealed that the MBC Group will likely have to build new transmitters for its digital TV expansion that involves new technology, while possibly acquiring other transmitters for its radio operations.

As for funding its planned expansion into digital TV, Mr. Nicdao said that as a listed company, they would probably raise funding through a combination of equity and borrowings. “We will probably sell more shares, or bonds, or borrow loans from our banks.”

Mr. Nicdao declined to state figures on how much their expenditure outlay would be, “probably in the hundreds of millions,” adding that most of the financial details, including their current revenue and projections would have to remain confidential.

With its ambitious expansion plans, Mr. Nicdao adds that from their current 1,000 employees , the group would be hiring more.

He is also confident that based on their experience in building up their legacy business, expenses for the expansion “will not be so expensive for us. A lot of companies have gone to TV and they are losing money. So, we will do it more intelligently. We will not just pour in so much money without seeing the returns. We will be prudent with our investment.”