SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – Bloomberg TV Philippines – the latest addition to Manuel V. Pangilinan’s media empire – is expected to break even as early as next year after it secured half of advertisements needed to recover its investments.
Emmanuel Lorenzana, president and CEO of MediaQuest Holdings Incorporated, said on the sidelines of a trade launch on Wednesday, August 12, that as of July, Bloomberg TV Philippines has already secured around 10 advertisements, which is half of what it needs to recoup investments.
Lorenzana added his group has spent “a little over P200 million ($4.34 million)” for the multiple-year contract with American-based international cable and satellite news network, Bloomberg Media Group.
The Pangilinan-led MediaQuest Holdings’ TV5 and Cignal Digital TV signed a deal with Bloomberg on March 25 to create Bloomberg TV Philippines, a 24-hour English business news channel.
“We hope to break even in a year’s time. We need around 20 advertisers to break even,” Lorenzana said.
“It’s not hard to get advertisers because Bloomberg is already a strong brand,” he added.
The pay-TV channel is scheduled to begin broadcast in the second half of September, said the head of MediaQuest, which runs TV5.
Anchors, programs bared
Bloomberg TV Philippines, which will be exclusively carried by Cignal, will feature more localized content to differentiate itself from the Bloomberg Television Channel that is already on Cignal’s grid.
Bloomberg TV Philippines also annnounced on Wednesday its hosts and program line-up.
Bloomberg TV Philippines’ anchors are entrepreneur Quintin Pastrana; TV correspondent Shawn Yao; finance analyst and management specialist JP Ong; corporate lawyer and commercial arbitration specialist Jean de Castro; international business reporter Regina Lay; international trade expert, economist, and law professor Tony Abad; social entrepreneur Michael Alimurung; and marketing expert Rod Nepomuceno.
Part of its content, according to Cignal COO Oscar Reyes Jr, are a morning newscast called First Up; news breaks called Top 5; Starting Gate, which is a show for market players as they wait for the stock market’s opening bell; and an evening newscast called In The Loop.
Reyes said Cignal “as the number one pay TV provider” aims to have 2.5 million households and 12.5 million viewers by the end of the year.
Bloomberg Television in turn is “a global powerhouse” with around 310 million viewers globally, as well as 16.5 million unique viewers online, he said.
The 20 million smartphone users and 30 million Internet users in the Philippines would also be tapped by Bloomberg TV Philippines’ digital platforms, the head of Cignal said.
Apart from Cignal Digital TV and TV5, MediaQuest Holdings also has interests in Nation Broadcasting Corporation, and broadsheets The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and BusinessWorld. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.