ABS-CBN Corp. yesterday said it will retrench around 100 employees or 3 percent of its total workforce due to lower advertising revenues and a decline in pay TV business.
The television industry as a whole has been hurt by lower consumer spending which translated into lower advertising spends. The company said it is also affected by the global decline in the pay TV business.
“As a result, the company has made the difficult decision to retrench around 100 or about 3 percent of its workforce. We are committed to providing those affected with full benefits and support, and are deeply grateful for their many years of service to the company and to the public,” ABS-CBN said in a statement released yesterday.
As of the end of 2023, ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries had 3,634 regular employees, 268 project employees, 605 program-based employees and 772 independent contractors.
Despite the decline in advertising spending on television, ABS-CBN has made significant progress in many of its businesses this year.
“TV ratings continue to improve, Star Cinema produced two hits so far, with one of them being the highest grossing Filipino movie, and our music business has gotten a strong boost from the popularity of girl band BINI,” the company said.
Currently, Batang Quiapo remains the highest rating TV show in the country and Showtime is the highest rating noontime show.
In movies, “Unhappy for You” is the highest-grossing Filipino film this year and “Rewind” is the highest grossing Filipino film of all time released last December.
On music, BINI hit the charts this year and sold out concerts in one to two hours. In the first half of the year, ABS-CBN trimmed its losses by 5 percent to P2.1 billion from P2.2 billion in the same period last year.
However, its consolidated services revenue was down by 11 percent to P7.8 billion in the first semester from P8.8 billion in the same period last year, due to a decline in content production and cable TV and broadband businesses by 3 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
Following its franchise’s lapse, Sky Cable could not continue providing direct-to-home service beginning in August 2020. The company continued to focus on growing its broadband subscriber base.
Sky Cable’s reported revenues amounted to P2.9 billion.
As of June this year, ABS-CBN has spent P1.3 billion on capital expenditures (capex) and program rights acquisitions. Bulk of the capex was allocated for cable and broadband expansion.
