Market leadership not the issue, says GMA Network

GMA Network, Inc. said yesterday that market leadership was not the issue in the complaint it has filed against ABS-CBN and three cable companies before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on May 6 but was grounded on its unwavering stand against unfair competition.

The company earlier filed a P12-million civil case for damages against ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., Central CATV Inc. (SkyCable), Philippine Home Cable Holdings, Inc. (Home Cable), and Pilipino Cable Corp.(Sun Cable).

Reacting to ABS-CBN’s statement branding the network’s lawsuit as an "act of desperation", GMA Network said in a statement that " market leadership is not an issue; unfair competition and trade practices are the main contentions of the suit."

GMA said it is precisely because the playing field is not even that it has decided to file the charges on monopoly /interlocking ownership of Sky Cable and ABS-CBN by the Lopez group and the Lopezes’ majority holdings in Beyond Cable (the merger of SkyCable and Home Cable).

It added that contrary to ABS-CBN’s statement, GMA’s ratings and audience shares in Metro Manila have been steadily increasing. It said that according to the latest AGB report, GMA’s total day rating in April was at the same level as ABS-CBN’s ratings of 14 percent. GMA and ABS-CBN’s audience shares in April were also at the same level at 37 percent.

In terms of airtime revenues, GMA’s performance during the first quarter compared with last year’s performance is better with a growth rate of 65 percent compared to ABS-CBN’s 30 percent. GMA’s net income of P406 million is very much ahead of ABS-CBN’s P107 million in 2002, it added..

It also noted that GMA’s programs have also gained support from advertisers. According to ACNielsen (PMS Monitoring Data), GMA’s total day comparative minutes loading from January to April 19, 2003 was 22,749 minutes compared to ABS-CBN’s 21,080 minutes for the same period. GMA increased its loading by 63 percent as of April 19 compared with ABS-CBN’s 19 percent growth rate for the same period, it added. – Mary Ann Reyes