GMA Network to roll out digital device next month

GMA Network Inc. is set to commercially roll out its digital transmission device as early as next month.

“Definitely, by next month,” GMA Chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Quezon City on Wednesday.

He was asked about the timeline for the commercial rollout of the digital device which would allow analog television sets to receive digital transmission.

Gozon first announced the device in May 2016.

It is now being manufactured in a factory in China.

GMA’s technology arm GMA New Media Inc. (NMI) unveiled the digital receiver prototype in October 2016.

With the commercial rollout scheduled next month, Gozon said the company targets to release at least a million units per year.

“Ang target niyan, one million initially. Let’s say, in one year, at least one million,” he said.

“Ang expectation namin, gagamitin ito dahil meron kami na wala ‘yung iba,” Gozon noted.

With a worldwide patent, Gozon said the device will be able to compete with products already in the market.

“Napakaraming features nito ... Kung ano ang ginagawa mo ngayon sa smartphone mo, pwedeng gawin. Pwede kang makipagusap, pwede mag-interact, pwede mag-record,” he said.

“Wala kaming mga dealers. So we have to find a way na hindi tayo mahuhuli ‘pag ni-launch na ‘yan and I can assure you, napakalapit na. Magpipirmahan nalang,” he said.

Gozon said GMA has also partnered with a telecommunications company for the project, but declined to disclose further details.

“Wala nang problema as far as I know. Pirmahan nalang,” he said.

“Biglaan ‘yan. Mas madali kaysa dadahan-dahanin mo. Kumbaga sa ulan, buhos,” he said, regarding the commercial launch. —VDS, GMA News

GMA Network not entertaining investors for now

GMA Network Inc. is closing the door, for now, to potential investors as it launches new initiatives, including the nationwide rollout of its digital television platform, its Chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon said on Wednesday.

“I am not entertaining at this point,” Gozon, one of GMA’s three major shareholders who usually takes the lead in negotiations with buyers, told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s annual meeting. “We are creating value first before we sell.”

Gozon said the company, which mainly competes with media giant ABS-CBN Corp. for radio and television ratings, expects to post higher profits in 2018 as advertising sales pick up while operational costs are curbed.

GMA’s profit dropped by 30 percent in 2017 to P2.54 billion, mainly on the absence of political ad spending that propped up earnings in 2016, the year of the presidential elections.

In previous years, GMA’s owners have held talks with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom for a possible investment but a final deal never materialized.

Businessman Ramon Ang, president of San Miguel Corp., came close to buying a 30 percent stake in 2015 but that deal also fell through.

New projects

During the shareholders’ meeting, GMA’s management highlighted the company’s new projects, including a P700 million digital television project, which Gozon acknowledged had uncertain financial prospects.

“We don’t have a monetization model yet for the domestic [digital television business],” Gozon told reporters.

Gozon said GMA successfully implemented the first phase of its digital TV transmission project in December last year.

Since then, the company has been airing digital TV transmissions across Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.

Gozon also cited that the company’s DTV signals will reach Mindanao by end-June this year.

“After we are through with our digitization project, we will be covering 83 percent of the Philippines with our digital signal,” Gozon said.

Next month, GMA will seal an agreement with a Chinese supplier for the manufacture of devices that will convert the company’s analog TV transmissions to digital, he said.

The device, which Gozon said is smaller than a basic feature phone, will cost less than ABS-CBN’s TVPlus boxes, which retail for around P1,500 each.

Gozon said GMA plans to sell one million such devices within a year. ABS-CBN, which launched its digital TV service in 2015, has sold over 4.3 million TVPlus boxes.

The shift to digital TV follows the 2013 decision by the Philippines to choose the Japanese standard over its European counterpart. Japan edged out its rival in terms of cost and a built-in warning system to inform people about natural calamities.

The National Telecommunications Commission announced last year that the “switch off” of anlaog TV was targeted in 2023. It expected that roughly 95 percent of all households would have access to digital TV by then. /vvp



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