Despite losing its franchise for over a year now, the former largest broadcasting network ABS-CBN continues to soar high, making other media companies hope to have a partnership with the company.
Recently, Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, one of the 70 lawmakers who were in favor of shutting down ABS-CBN, the owner of Prime Media Holdings (PRIM) company, expressed his desire to have ABS-CBN shows included in his Tacloban-based television and radio station.
According to a report on Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippine Collective Media Corp. (PCMC), which PRIM is under, said, “… is looking into entering into a business arrangement or partnership to collaborate with companies that have media content and facilities, but cannot broadcast the same due to lack of franchise, which will enable it to broadcast nationwide.”
ABS-CBN lost its franchise in 2020 resulting in its inability to air its shows on analog. Its only option is to focus on digitization as well as cable and look for collaborations to still air programs on free TV to reach a wider audience.
It found A2Z and TV5 to collaborate. However, MediaQuest, the owner and operator of the Kapatid Network, at first, was not willing to give ABS-CBN the chance to air its shows on free TV using their frequency.
Fortunately, in 2021, both networks came to an agreement as TV5 and Cignal Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) announced the collaboration of the two broadcasting stations.
The partnership between TV5 and ABS-CBN became beneficial not only to both TV networks but also to Cignal who earned P510 million in the first half of the year—seven times more than their usual profit before ABS-CBN’s closure.
Meanwhile, A2Z is reaching greater heights after it agreed to air the programs of ABS-CBN back in 2020. Recently, the Network, through the help of the still franchise-less Kapamilya network, launched its digital box to reach a wider audience.
ABS-CBN, despite not being able to air shows on its own channel, continues to expand and innovate, helping those who helped them by increasing their respective performances and profits, which in turn, entices other media companies such as PRIM to enter a partnership.
Who among the remaining TV networks in the Philippines do you think will be tempted next to enter a partnership with ABS-CBN in order to increase its bottom line?
