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GMA Network Inc. has been penalized for operating
three provincial stations on expired licenses.
In a three separate orders, the
National Telecommunications Commission directed GMA to pay P709,200
in penalties for its stations in Zamboanga City, Butuan City and
Surigao del Sur province.
The company’s station
provisionary authority to operate in Tandag, Surigao del Sur, with
station ID, DXRC-TV, expired in August 2000, while the respective
licenses of DXYK-FM station in Butuan City and DXRC-AM in Zamboanga
City lapsed in January 1999 and 1998.
The network also has to pay
P13,200 in license renewal fees for the stations. The penalties and
fees combined amount to P722,400.
The regulator said that once the
penalties and fees are paid, the NTC will extend to 2010 the
network’s authority to operate and maintain the three stations.
Earlier, Felipe Gozon, GMA
president and chief executive officer, said the company is targeting
to replicate last year its 2005 profit of P2 billion. This was down
from an earlier forecast of P2.5 billion.
“It is bad because it’s below
our target,” Gozon said, adding that new unit QTV is expected to
eat up P500 million of its profits.
Gozon said that by next
year, the company expects QTV to break-even.
For the first nine months of the
year, GMA posted a net income of P1.54 billion, or 11 percent lower
than in the same period in 2005.
Gozon also disclosed that the
company is setting aside about P1 billion for its capital
expenditures next year to finance its foray into digital TV and to
deploy more signals outside Metro Manila.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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