TV5 hopes to trim losses in 2012

MANILA, Philippines – A top official of TV5 said they hope that cost-cutting measures this 2012 will bear fruit and allow the country’s third-largest media group to trim its losses.

TV5 president Ray Epinosa said the broadcasting firm has been implementing cost-cutting measures that will hopefully narrow down losses which doubled to P4 billion in 2011 from P2 billion in 2010.

“We’re obviously becoming more cost conscious in the sense that we keep revisiting our cost programming grid to find out the optimal but inexpensive way,” he said in a recent interview.

He said TV5 finance people are still crunching the numbers and will soon find out how best to address the TV station’s financial matters. “We may finish next week the budget planning. Yes, we hope to trim our losses this year,” the media executive added.

The media officials has previously said they hope to break even in 2013, which was later moved to 2014.

In a recent interview, TV5 chair Manuel Pangilinan said he has told the media executives to take their time.

“My suggestion to TV5 is, it will take longer than anticipated,” he said, admitting that the original target to get into black has been reset to 2015.

“I think eventually we will turn TV5 around. The question is, will it be a good investment rather than a great investment? It’s a big unknown, but we will certainly give it a good try–our best try,” he stressed.

TV5 officials are hoping to hit a market share of 30% by 2015 from the current 15%.

Espinosa admitted that TV5’s expenses will continue to be steep. “Well, yes to a certain extent because we have a fuller grid…Hopefully, we will manage it as we become more cost conscious.”

The Pangilinan group acquired TV5 in 2009 as part of the strategy of converging their telecommunication businesses with media, which provides content. – Rappler.com