“GMA has gone beyond what I imagined,” said lawyer Felipe L. Gozon, chairman, president and CEO of the GMA Network which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with, as they’d say, flying colors.
What Gozon probably didn’t “imagine” was GMA’s rise from a mere second player (to ABS-CBN) for close to two decades to having, to quote its official press bulletin, “outranked the company’s nearest competitor in both ratings and revenues.”
An accomplished lawyer who placed 13th in the 1962 bar exams, Gozon helped rebuild Republic Broadcasting System (RBS)-TV Channel 7 from a cash-strapped station in the 1970s to a multi-media conglomerate Global Media Arts (GMA) that it is now. He has been the chairman of GMA since 1975. When he became president and CEO in 2000, added the bulletin, “he instituted a culture of excellence, making GMA the No. 1 station in the country.”
Working hand-in-hand with Gozon is Gilberto “Jimmy” Duavit Jr. the network’s executive vice prersident and COO. An AB Philosophy graduate from UP, Duavit has been the director of the company since 1999 and is currently the chairman of the network’s executive committee.
“We continue to battle competition head-on up to this day,” said Duavit.
More from the GMA press bulletin: From gross revenues of only P3.1 billion when the Gozon-Duavit management took over at the start of the millenium, the figures have steadily gone up. In 2009, the company finished with record-high gross revenues of P13.8 billion, more than P10 billion away from GMA’s seed money when it seriously began chasing its rival. The company’s net income rose by more than 10-fold to P2.8 billion in 2009 (the highest in its 60-year history) from only P209 million in 2000.
What are his and Duavit’s plans for the next 60 years? Funfare asked the tandem, presuming that they would be around to lead the network’s 120th-anniversary celebration. (Wishful thinking, isn’t it?)
“I don’t think I will be around that long,” Gozon said, riding on the joke.
Here are excerpts from a free-wheeling chat the “Power of 2” recently had with entertainment editors:
So what are your plans for the next 10 years, if not 60 years?
Gozon: We have a lot of plans maybe within the next five years. One of our immediate plans is to make GMA the best content-provider; we hope to come up to the Japanese standard. The moment we start, tuluy-tuloy na ‘yon. You can watch GMA programs in the computer. The platform is very expensive, masyadong capital-intensive, but they are already there.
TV5 is emerging as the so-called “third force.” How do you deal with competition in general?
Gozon: To be honest, while we consider (it) already there, it’s not yet a threat. It’s there, just there, but it’s not yet a threat. So we are focusing our attention on ABS-CBN because, you know, it’s getting stronger. If you notice, we are making changes in some of our programs, we are reformatting them. Take S.O.P. It has evolved into Party Pilipinas which is very competitive. You can even watch it now on 3D.
Do you monitor programs of the competition?
Duavit: Yes, we do. We monitor not just our programs but those of other networks. That’s part of our job. We have to make our programs as good as if not better than the competition. S.O.P. is the best example. For years, it lorded over the Sunday noontime slot; ABS-CBN kept on changing shows to match S.O.P. and it took them so long to hit the right show (A.S.A.P.). Mahirap naman ‘yung bigla mong papatayin ang isang show, so what we do is tell our producers to come up with a better one. Now, we have Party Pilipinas which is a much-improved show than the previous one. And we have new shows aside from that.
Some GMA talents have moved to TV5 while a few more are rumored to be following suit. Aren’t you doing any loyalty check?
Gozon: No, we are not. Maski naman mag-loyalty check ka it won’t stop talents from moving somewhere else. Maski nga sa asawa mo, you can’t do that. You know, mag-lo-loyalty check ka ba sa asawa mo? (Laughs)
Gozon: Fortunately, the talents the competition wants to get, it’s able to get. But those we don’t want, I won’t stop them from moving somewhere else. (More laughter) But if those we want to stay are given a bigger offer and we can’t match it, well, what can we do?
Like who?
Gozon: One of them, I have admitted very bluntly, was Paolo Bediones. He was offered (by TV5) an executive position which we could not give him, so even if we wanted to keep him, we didn’t have a choice but to let him go.
Piracy is rampant not only with DVDs and CDs but also with talents. What’s your stand on piracy (of talents)?
Gozon: We don’t pirate talents. That’s our policy. If there are talents from ABS-CBN signing up with us, that means that their contracts with that network have already expired. Otherwise, if they still have contracts (with ABS-CBN or other networks), we don’t get them...we don’t try to “pirate” them by offering them twice or thrice of what they are earning. Hindi namin gawain ‘yon.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)