PLDT unit to pay P5 billion for ABC-5 majority stake

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Group, through its media arm Mediaquest, will pay about P5 billion for a controlling stake in ABC Development Corp., owner and operator of broadcasting company ABC Channel 5, its top executive said yesterday.

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the amount includes the acquisition price for Primedia, a local corporation engaged in developing programming content for television and marketing of airtime, specifically for ABC-5. The acquisition of Primedia is expected to be completed within the month.

Ray Espinosa, Mediaquest director and vice-chairman of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund (BTF) which owns Mediaquest, earlier told The STAR that the acquisition price will be paid in cash.

Although Mediaquest officials said the 75-percent stake in ABC-5 was acquired from a number of entities, industry sources pointed out the beneficial owner of the shares is businessman Antonio ‘Tonyboy’ Cojuangco, whose family used to be the majority owner of PLDT until it was sold to the First Pacific Group of which Pangilinan is the managing director.

When asked whether Cojuangco will be out of ABC-5, Pangilinan said: “I will probably be working with Mr. Cojuangco.”

Pangilinan said the immediate task for Mediaquest would be to meet with the staff to assure them about the plans of the new owners moving forward.

The next task, he said, is to start planning “because it is a business we know nothing about, we are up against a strong incumbent, malalakas sila.”

On earlier reports that the PLDT Group is eyeing other broadcast firms, including government-owned RPN 9 and IBC 13, Pangilinan said there are no plans yet as ABC-5 would be a huge task.

Mediaquest earlier said the investments in ABC-5 and Primedia are in line with its strategy of developing media, content, and production resources to complement its other media assets and platforms such as Cignal, a direct-to-home satellite service launched in July this year.

They added that by investing in both ABC-5 and Primedia, Mediaquest expects to further enhance the channel’s programming, ratings and sales, as well as improve the broadcast network’s coverage and signal strength throughout the country.

They noted that over the past year, ABC-5 has significantly increased its viewership ratings and has established its position as a strong number three in the country’s Philippine television industry. 

The local broadcasting industry is currently dominated by ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. and GMA Network.