ABS-CBN and TV5: NTC, Other Agencies To Review Partnership

The ABS-CBN and TV5 deal and partnership are to be reviewed.

ABS-CBN and TV5 – National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and other agencies to review the partnership.

On July 10, 2020, the ABS-CBN Corporation network officially shut down after 70 lawmakers rejected the franchise renewal bid of the network. After 13 comprehensive and exhaustive congressional hearings, the ABS-CBN did not get a new franchise.

The denial still happened even though an official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has already cleared their lapses when it comes to their tax payment. BIR Assistant Commissioner Manuel Mapoy said, “ABS-CBN Corporation ay (is) regularly paying taxes for the past years. Na-check naman po na ‘yung dapat nilang i-withhold at na-remit naman nila sa gobyerno.”

Despite the shutdown, the corporation did not stop serving its viewers. Several challenges were met such as losing their artists and building their foundation on their social media platforms. They evacuated on other platforms and made a handful of block time deals.

The corporation made quite an excellent job in these major changes.

And now, achieving another achievement is their partnership deal with TV5. The media company owned by the Lopezes acquired shares from the media company owned by Manny Pangilinan. The “investment agreement” makes ABS-CBN Corp acquire 6,459,393 primary (new) common shares, which is 34.99 percent of the total voting and outstanding capital stock of TV5.

Previously, MediaQuest owns 99.67 percent of TV5 and this deal with ABS-CBN reduces its stake to 64.79 percent the moment the deal is finished.

However, in a report from PEP, government agencies like the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), and Securites and Exchange Commission (SEC) are yet to investigate and scrutinize the deal.

NTC’s Memorandum Order 3-06-2022 stated that the company with a legislative franchise must make a deal with another company that doesn’t have a remaining obligation with the government.

NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said, “Yun kasing prangkisa is a privilege given by the government sa mga pribado na entities para magnegosyo sa atin, sa Pilipinas, at ang gamit po nito ay mga frequencies na airwaves na pagmamay-ari ng estado.”

And since it is a privilege, it is accordingly just right that they investigate and scrutinize this kind of matter.