ABS-CBN Corp. continues to explore opportunities to improve the profitability of its subsidiary Sky Cable Corp., the listed media company said on Thursday.
“Sky Cable, however, continues to be a challenge on our earnings with net losses excluding non-recurring items. This is mainly caused by the decline in pay TV customers and the lack of capital to expand our broadband facilities,” ABS-CBN President and Chief Executive Officer Carlo L. Katigbak said in the company’s online annual stockholders meeting.
Plans are in the works to increase the profitability of its subsidiary, Sky Cable, Mr. Katigbak said.
In February, ABS-CBN and PLDT Inc. announced a decision to halt the sale of Sky Cable to the Pangilinan-led telecommunications company.
To recall, Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Anthony H. Uy previously said that the company is open to expand its television presence and even open to partnerships with SkyCable if the opportunity arises.
“The Company continues to consider prospects of growing its customer base, improving customer experience, and ensuring digital access to Filipinos by maximizing the utilization of our network,” Converge said in its clarification to the stock exchange on Thursday.
BusinessWorld sought comments from Converge but has yet to receive a response by the deadline.
In a stock exchange filing, ABS-CBN said that it continues to work on plans to improve Sky Cable’s viability by continuously exploring opportunities to better serve our subscribers, employees, and stakeholders.
The company said Sky Cable has a standing P4.5-billion loan balance; P2.05 of which is due within one year.
For the first quarter, ABS-CBN trimmed its net loss to P841.54 million from a loss of P1.16 billion in the same period last year.
This brought about the company’s lower expenses for the period, its financial statement showed.
For the January-to-March period, ABS-CBN’s gross expense declined to P5.28 billion from P5.4 billion in the comparable period last year; while it recorded a gross revenue of P4.08 billion from P4.26 billion, previously. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
