GMA Network Inc. is seeking a joint venture with a telecommunication company to distribute its content through mobile and broadband devices.
“We don’t have the kind of money to invest in a telco, so we need their infrastructure to distribute our content,” said GMA Network chairman Felipe Gozon in a recent interview.
“It’s a joint venture to sell our content,” he added.
Gozon had said the network was in talks with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom Inc.in 2013 for possible media content distribution deals.
The broadcasting network’s move to enter a deal with a telco company came after rival ABS-CBN Corp. teamed up with Globe to offer mobile phone services.
GMA Network had an agreement with businessman Ramon Ang to acquire 30 percent of the broadcasting network. The investment of Ang in GMA Network, however, has yet to be finalized.
Gozon clarified there was no fixed deadline on the closure of the transaction with Ang, “but it should be done within a reasonable period which is not defined.”
Ang, however, said he would still pursue the acquisition of a minority stake in GMA Network, but cited some new but “small issues” that need to be resolved.
“This is [my] personal deal for a minority stake [in GMA]. The talks are ongoing,” Ang told reporters earlier.
Ang declined to disclose the issues, assuring that he was not running away from the deal.
Ang offered to acquire at least 30 percent of GMA for P10.80 per share. The Gozon, Duavit and Jimenez families own a combined 79 percent of the network.
PLDT, meanwhile, said it completed the acquisition of Metro Kidapawan Telephone Corp. (Metro Phone), raising its market share of the fixed line business in Mindanao to 75 percent.
The acquisition was made through PLDT’s wholly-owned subsidiary PLDT-Philcom Inc., the biggest local exchange carrier operating in Mindanao.
“With this acquisition, PLDT will be able to better serve a greater number of customers with its expanding multimedia and digital services that are powered by its unparalleled fiber optic network,” PLDT president and chief executive Napoleon Nazareno said.
