PLDT Inc. unit MediaQuest Holdings Inc., which operates TV5 Network Inc., and ABS-CBN Corp. will form a joint venture broadcast company that is expected to be finalized within the third quarter.
Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT and MediaQuest chairman, said the two firms are currently finalizing the joint venture agreement which will have 35 percent and 65 percent equity sharing.
“The model we are working on, it will be a joint venture in TV5 using the platform of TV5 as the free to air, broadcast platform of both TV5 and ABS-CBN. We are not acquiring ABS-CBN, we are not acquiring any shares in ABS-CBN, instead they are investing in TV5,” Pangilinan said in an interview on the sidelines of PLDT’s financial briefing.
Pangilinan clarified TV5 is not selling its existing shares to ABS-CBN.
“We’re selling our existing shares — that’s not true; it’s them (ABS-CBN) putting assets, money from an equity standpoint. It will start at 35 percent for them (ABS-CBN) and 65 percent for MediaQuest,” he added.
“We’ve been having discussions with them for over a year and it’s fair to characterize it in the close stages. The likelihood of an agreement with them is high and near,” Pangilinan also said.
He said the company’s lawyers advised that at least 30 days is needed to complete the “conditions precedent to the effectivity of the contract with them to operationalize the agreement.”
“If you work back on September 15 by a month, approximately we do have to get board approval as soon as we can. Sometime August definitely, maybe in the next two weeks, maybe three weeks. That’s broadly the timetable that we are working under,” he added.
Currently, TV5 and ABS-CBN have block time agreements. Their collaboration began in 2021, a few months after the Lopez broadcast firm’s franchise renewal was denied by Congress.
Carlo Katigbak, ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer, recently said the company’s partnership with TV5 has resulted in improved ratings from 1.1 percent after the shutdown in 2020 to 4.2 percent last year, with audience share during primetime at 27 percent versus the competition’s 58 percent.
“We continue to work with TV5 and other broadcast partners willing to distribute our content to reach their audiences. As of today, our partnership with them is taking the form of content licensing or content sharing agreement,” Katigbak had said.
