STATE-OWNED People’s Television Network (PTV4) may soon have a capability to compete with other networks in the country and eventually bring back its prestige in the field of broadcasting.

This after the Senate approved on third and final reading a bill that allows the infusion of P5 billion into PTV4’s capital, and also allow it to operate on its own by generating funds from commercial advertisements and airtime sale.

“Approval of this measure and the infusion of P5 billion into the company’s capital, breathes new life into a network with an enhanced corporate structure that gives information straight from the source, while encouraging the flow of communication from the grassroots and the stakeholders,” said Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan 2nd, the sponsor of Senate Bill 3316 or an Act Revitalizing the People’s Television Network Inc.

Honasan, chairman of the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, said that the bill could transform change the image of PTV4 from a television network pushing for the government’s various agenda into an open media, providing accurate data and inviting inputs from outside sources.

Under the bill the P5 billion new capital for PTV4 will come from the incremental increases of the spectrum user’s fee of the National Telecommunications Commission, P2 billion; the proceeds of the priva-tization of Radio Philippines Network Inc. (RPN 9) and the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC 13), P2 billion; and the General Appropriations Act of 2013, P1 billion.