Real estate tycoon Manny Villar Jr., a known administration ally, sent shockwaves through the Philippine media industry after suddenly acquiring the highly coveted and controversial television broadcast frequencies of ABS-CBN.
This comes following the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) approval to grant both channels 2 and 16 to Villar-linked Advanced Media Broadcasting System Inc.
The NTC’s move effectively frustrates any hope that ABS-CBN could still reacquire the iconic frequencies, which have both been idle since Congress shut down the former media giant’s fresh franchise application in 2020.
The commission has given AMBS a provisional license to install, operate, and maintain a digital television broadcasting system in Metro Manila and Mega Manila using the Channel 16 frequency (which was previously owned and utilized by ABS-CBN to broadcast Studio 23) for the next 18 months.
NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba and Deputy Commissioners Edgardo Cabarios and Delilah Deles signed the PA.
Business news portal Bilyonaryo first broke the news.
VILLAR EXPANDS CLOUT TO MEDIA INDUSTRY
AMBS was formerly owned by the Vera family, who decided to sell the controlling stake over the company to Villar-linked Planet Cable last year.
This happened at a time when AMBS hit the rock bottom as a result of the pandemic.
The broadcasting company, which operates in Metro Manila and General Santos City as per a Rappler report, was able to secure a franchise extension in 2019 for another 25 years.
NTC’s documents stated that AMBS “was the first applicant for an authority to install, operate, and maintain a digital TV in Metro Manila” and had been awaiting an available digital TV frequency since 2006.
However, the documents also showed Malacañang’s backing over this move, as the 18-month provisional authority sought by AMBS was reviewed by the Department of Justice and Office of the Executive Secretary that both issued a “no objection” consent last December 29.
The NTC said the Office of the President-Office of the Executive Secretary “interposed no objection for the NTC to proceed with the issuance of CPCNs/PAs and to assign vacated and available frequencies to qualified entities”.
Villar is the Philippines’ richest tycoon, according to Forbes Magazine. His fortune amounts to an astounding $7.2 billion. With his acquisition of ABS CBN’s iconic frequencies, Villar expands his business clout to the media industry aside from his already existing bargaining power in real estate, retail, and death care industries, among others.
Below is a stock commentary from Merkado Barkada, a free daily newsletter on the Philippine Stocks Exchange, about the impact of ABS CBN frequencies acquisition by Villar-linked AMBS:
MB BOTTOM-LINE
This is a definite slap in the face to anyone that had been stacking ABS stock under the “new president, new opportunities” theory that ABS would simply walk back into a franchise after the upcoming presidential election.
Channel 2 and 16 are obviously iconic frequencies, and it’s probably not just a big old coincidence that AMBS’s 16-year old application was approved by the NTC after Manny Villar took control of it just months before the end of Duterte’s term in office.
It’s also probably not a coincidence either that one of the country’s wealthiest political operators, with family encrusted in several high-profile elected and appointed positions in government, would be the one to receive the coveted and controversial channels.
While this move doesn’t preclude ABS from coming back to broadcast television under some other arrangement or new set of frequencies, it does throw a tub of cold water on the daydream that ABS might be able to just resume its position once Duterte’s term was up.
Regardless of your political beliefs, it will be interesting to see how future presidents use the liberties that Duterte has taken with the public capital markets to accomplish their own personal and political goals.
That kind of power swings both ways, unfortunately, which is why it’s so important to keep it in check no matter how attractive or tempting it might be to permit its use in certain circumstances.
