Kapamilya actor Sam Milby shared his dismay over the discontinued ABS-CBN-TV5 investment deal.
In a statement at a press conference over the weekend, Milby who currently stars in the Kapamilya teleserye A Family Affair said he still feels for ABS-CBN after losing its franchise and the termination of its investment agreement with the Kapatid network.
“Siyempre, kawawa ang ABS ngayon na walang prankisa, and hindi rin natuloy ang partnership with TV5, which I thought it would be helping for ABS.
“But you know, ABS is surviving, they’re putting out great projects, and I think that’s one thing about ABS, you can be assured na ‘yung proyekto na nilalabas nila is maganda,” he said.
ABS-CBN was forced to shut down in May 2020 following the expiration of its broadcast franchise and the Nat’l Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) cease-and-desist order.
On the other hand, its franchise renewal application was subsequently killed by 70 Duterte-allied and Cayetano-led congressmen in July 2020 over allegations of franchise violations that were not proven during the franchise hearing.
On August 11, 2022, ABS-CBN, which is currently in block time agreement with TV5, entered into a deal with the Kapatid Network that will allow the two networks to share resources to better serve their loyal viewers.
However, on September 1 of this year, the two networks announced that they had signed a memorandum of agreement on August 31, terminating the investment deal.
ABS-CBN and TV5 decided to call off the partnership agreement following opposition from lawmakers who were previously instrumental in the denial of ABS-CBN’s franchise application.