GMA and TV5 no merger... yet?

Manila, Philippines -  A marketing arrangement involving the international channels of two of the Philippines’ leading television networks has fuelled speculations about an impending merger between the two companies.

But both GMA Network and TV5 yesterday said the arrangement has nothing to do with the reported offer of TV5 parent Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to acquire GMA.

A Philippine Star report has indicated that the two networks have “merged” and will formally launch by the end of November.

The report said business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan “virtually confirmed” the merger during a press conference in San Francisco, California on Saturday for the partnership between TV5 and Dish Network. Dish Network offers both TV5 and GMA Pinoy TV to US subscribers.

However, ABS-CBN News Channel quoted TV5 president Ray Espinosa as saying that Pangilinan was misquoted and that no agreement has been made, although the interest in GMA Network remains.

“MVP was misquoted. He did not say there was already an agreement between TV5 and GMA 7. The TV5-GMA 7 bundled offering on the Dish Network is a marketing strategy of the Dish Network. This does not mean TV5 and GMA 7 have already agreed to merge,” Espinosa said in a statement.

“There is no such thing as a November deadline. We do not know where that came from. The interest in GMA 7 remains but any transaction or deal would depend on a meeting of minds as to price and other essential matters,” he added.

ABS-CBN also said that TV5 host Arnel Ignacio posted on Twitter a photo of a text message he received from Pangilinan, who denied mentioning any merger with GMA Network.

In the text message, Pangilinan did say that there were ongoing discussions with GMA, but nothing has been finalized.

“All I said was — please support TV5 here in the States and by the way please support GMA 7, too (since Dish carries GMA). That was all. No mention of merger, investment, combination. Certainly, no mention of a November deadline, or any deadline at all,” Pangilinan’s message read.

“Sure, some people speculated and all I said was I can now say we’re under discussion but nothing finalized at this time,” he added.

For its part, GMA Network told the stock exchange it was not in a position to make a comment on the reported merger agreement with TV5.

“We are not in a position to comment since we are not the source of the quote or information or to definitely say whether the information is accurate or not. To the best of our knowledge, the source of this information is claiming to have been misquoted,” GMA Network said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

In the past few months, there have been persistent reports about the merger between GMA and TV5, but both parties have played it coy.

Pangilinan has earlier said that his group would be interested in buying into GMA Network.

However, GMA Network chairman Felipe Gozon insisted they are not selling the network, but are open to any possible buyout offers.

Gozon owns 20 percent of GMA, while the Duavit and Jimenez families own 23 percent each.

GMA Network said it is not in a position to comment on the reported merger of GMA Network and TV5 “since we are not the source of the information. “

“The said article attributed the information to Mr. Manny Pangilinan (MVP). To our knowledge, MVP has clarified that he was misquoted. We therefore suggest that anyone who wishes to verify may do so with MVP,” the network said in a statement.