Manny Pangilinan’s media firm jumpstarts FM radio business

Meantime, House Speaker Romualdez’s Prime Media Collective Corporation (PCMC), which operates Radyo 630 AM station, now has an FM sister station via 92.3 FM after buying the radio assets of Pangilinan’s Nation Broadcasting

MANILA, Philippines – Telecommunications magnate Manny V. Pangilinan has jumpstarted his FM radio business after selling radio assets to House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a sign that the country’s leading sports patron is keeping his status as the Philippines’ number two free-to-air media mogul. 

In an inteview with Rappler on Saturday, November 10, Cherry Bayle, operations manager of Nation Broadcasting Corporation, said Pangilinan continues to give his full support to the Kapatid network TV5, as well as the new FM station of NBC, True FM 105.9.  NBC is a subsidiary of media conglomerate MediaQuest Holdings.

MediaQuest on Saturday formally launched to the public its new multi-platform venture, True Network, after NBC sold its radio assets that were used to air Radyo5 on the 92.5 FM frequency to Romualdez’s media company, Prime Media Holdings. The deal was announced last week. 

This left NBC without equipment to operate a radio station. Bayle said NBC struck a deal to lease airtime from the Aguirre family’s Brightstar Broadcasting Corporation (Brightstar), which has decided to give up its FM radio business last branded as Neo Retro 105.9.

Bayle said NBC now uses the transmitter towers of Brightstar in Nuestra Señora Dela Paz, Sta. Cruz, Antipolo City, Rizal. She said it’s a minor adjustment since Antipolo City is also where NBC’s transmitters for its former 92.3 FM radio are located.

In a press conference at Ynares Center in Antipolo City on Saturday, the Kapatid network introduced some of the personalities in True Network: Senator Raffy Tulfo; ex-Kapamilyas-turned-Radyo5 program hosts Ted Failon, Czarina “DJ Chacha” Balba, Brother Jun “Dr. Love” Banaag; Laila “Chikadora” Pangilinan; Arnold Rei “Kuya Poy” dela Cruz; TV5 news personalities Cheryl Cosim, Maricel Halili, Lourd de Veyra; former CNN anchor Ruth Cabal; DJ Ana Ramsey; and celebrity talk show host Cristy Fermin.

The True Network venture means Pangilinan is not giving up on legacy media, even though advertisers continue to allocate a bigger portion of their budgets to digital media instead of television and radio. 

Bayle said they believe they can make True Network profitable since they have the big names in Philippine radio, as well as the support of key advertisers such as gaming firm DigiPlus led by Eusebio Tanco.

They have also enhanced their reach by a dedicated cable Channel 19 for True Network in MediaQuest’s pay TV’s cable business Cignal. Its programs are also on digital via YouTube and TikTok. Cignal TV is the Philippines’ leading cable provider with over 4 million subscribers.

The radio shows are uploaded as podcasts, such as Banaag’s advice show, “Dr. Love,” and Lourd de Veyra’s “Sana Lourd.” 

“All platforms are now covered,” Bayle said. 

Bayle said NBC was able to improve the ratings of 92.3 FM from being the number 20 radio station four years ago to one of the top 5 radio stations in the Philippines before the sale to the Romualdez media group.

She said the addition of former ABS-CBN radio personalities like Failon and Banaag in 2020 helped boost the station’s ratings. 

Bayle said FM continues to be a useful medium in the Philippines across all classes. Most of them however, now listen via their mobile phones or online. 

As of end of 2023, Pangilinan’s Kapatid network was the second most-watched TV station next to GMA, the Philippines’ leading broadcast empire. Based on Nielsen Television Audience Measurement, in 2023, GMA’s audience share in urban-national was 45.2% while GMA 7’s sister channel GTV had an audience share of 10.5% for a commanding 55% audience share in urban-national. 

However, unlike GMA Network, which remains highly profitable due to its dominant position, TV5 continues to be hobbled by losses since Pangilinan acquired the station in 2010. 

“In terms of profitability, TV5 has been beset with net losses throughout the years accumulating to billions of Philippine pesos,” said publicly-listed GMA Network in its 2023 annual report.

However, the Kapatid network improved its audience share in urban-national from 10% in 2022 to 13% in 2023, up 3 points, data from GMA Network’s annual report also showed.

Pangilinan, however, heads many other companies that are highly profitable, including telco giant PLDT Incorporated, and power distributor Manila Electric Company, among many others. Meralco recently got its franchise renewed on second and third reading in the House of Representatives. 

The PLDT group had a core net income of P18 billion in the first half of 2024, a 3% uptick from the P17.6 billion in the same period in 2023.  Meralco, the country’s largest private sector electric distribution company, had a core net income of P23 billion in the first half of 2024, up 21% from the same period in 2023. 

Meantime, Romualdez’s Prime Media Collective Corporation (PCMC), which operates Radyo 630 AM station, now has an FM sister station via 92.3 FM after buying the radio assets of NBC.

Romualdez resuscitated ABS-CBN’s DZMM TeleRadyo after the Lopezes closed it down in May 2023 due to financial losses. PCMC took over the station under a joint venture with ABS-CBN, with the latter providing the content. Last June, it forayed into digital television by launching Prime TV Philippines. It uses the digital frequency of Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media Incorporated (BEAM), a broadcast company wholly owned by Bethlehem Holdings Incorporated, an investee company of Ayala-led Globe Telecom Group Retirement Fund. 

ABS-CBN lost its broadcast business in 2020 after the Duterte administration ordered it shut following its franchise expiration in May 2020. The lower house of Congress, including Romualdez, then rejected its franchise renewal two months later. Included in the shutdown was ABS-CBN’s FM station, MOR 101.9. 

Romualdez’s partnership with the Lopezes for Radyo 630 and the growth through the years of his FMR FM radio stations throughout the country would make him the third most influential personality in the free-to-air media industry next to the owners of the Kapuso and the Kapatid networks. – Rappler.com