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By Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter
FIRST-QUARTER financial results
of the two main rivals in the Philippine broadcasting industry
diverged, with ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. reporting a fall in
profits and GMA Network Inc. registered gains.
In a briefing, Vivian Tin, ABS-CBN
chief officer for research and business analysis, said the
company’s net income in the first three months this year dropped
14 percent to P242 million from P281 million in the same period last
year. The official blamed the decline on the termination of its
DirecTV license fee, the absence of political ads and the early
start of the Holy Week.
Excluding extraordinary gains,
the company however registered a 23-percent increase in earnings.
ABS-CBN last year enjoyed P46 million in revenues from the DirecTV
license fee and P38 million from political advertising.
“These license fees were
generated from subscribers who migrated to the DirecTV platform and
continued to remain subscribed for a given period of time,” the
company said.
Rolando Valdueza, ABS-CBN chief
financial officer, said that from January to April the company’s
net income reached P409 million compared with P397 million in the
same period last year. “The second quarter will be better,” he
said.
The company’s first-quarter
gross revenues increased by 3 percent to P4.3 billion this year
owing to higher airtime revenues and direct sales. Excluding license
fees, ABS-CBN said consolidated revenues grew 5 percent year on
year. Total expenses however grew at a faster pace of 7 percent to
P3.9 billion.
Airtime revenues increased 4
percent to P2.8 billion, while direct sales posted a 7-percent
year-on-year increase to P1.4 billion, driven by ABS-CBN Global.
At end-March, ABS-CBN Global’s
total subscriber base had risen 15 percent, while sale of services
went up 7 percent, from P837 million to P895 million. In addition,
the unit’s sale of goods skyrocketed to P94 million, a 70-percent
increase over the same period last year.
For its part, GMA Network said
its first-quarter profit rose 6 percent to P454 million owing to
higher revenues. Airtime revenues were up 1 percent to P2.4 billion,
while revenue from international and other sources grew by 6
percent.
Gross revenues, which consist of
gross airtime revenue, production and others, went up by 2 percent
or P39 million to P2.56 billion.
“Despite the absence of
political ads and [the] early onset of Holy Week this year, airtime
revenue inched up by 1 percent to P2.4 billion,” the company said.
International operations ended
the first quarter with P118 million in cumulative revenues, up 19
percent compared with P99 million in the same period last year.
Pinoy TV registered increased
sales as the numbers of its subscribers grew, GMA Network said. 
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