Philippines' leading broadcaster expands

Philippines' leading broadcaster expands

MANILA (Reuter): The top TV and radio company in the
Philippines, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., will spend about 550
million pesos (US$21.15 million) on an expansion plan this year
to boost its provincial and overseas operations, officials said
on Wednesday.

ABS-CBN, which garnered 47 percent of the industry's total
advertising revenue last year, also plans to strengthen its film-
making operations, company president Eugenio Lopez told a
stockholders' meeting.

He said the company will invest 500 million pesos ($19.23
million) to expand its provincial radio operations, including the
acquisition of new stations in urban centers like Cebu and
Bacolod in the Visayas and Davao in Mindanao.

"We have a very small share of that market. We want to take up
as much as a 20 percent share on a nationwide basis," Lopez later
told reporters.

ABS posted a 62 percent rise in net profit to 976 million
pesos ($37.54 million) in 1994 against 600.6 million pesos ($23.1
million) in 1993.

It is targeting net profit of over one billion pesos ($38.46
million) this year, about a quarter of it in the first three
months, Lopez said. He added that preliminary first quarter
income results show the company is within its targets.

Lopez said ABS-CBN is projected to earn revenue of up to 20
million pesos ($770,000) from the television coverage of a
national and local election campaign ahead of the May 8 polls.

He said the company plans to spend $2.0 million for its
fledgling international operation.

ABS-CBN's television programs are beamed via satellite to some
parts of the United States through the facilities of a
subsidiary, ABS-CBN International, and Lopez said they plan to
expand their satellite coverage on the West Coast.

"With our diversification efforts, ABS-CBN is moving closer to
servicing two-thirds of the world," he told shareholders.

The company, through its movie outfit Star Cinema, plans to
produce about 20 movies this year, or about double the number it
produced in 1994 which contributed 20 million pesos ($770,000) to
ABS-CBN's net income.

The broadcaster will also start distributing Star Cinema films
in Europe and the United States this year through Videopost, its
video arm, Lopez said.

He said ABS-CBN will also begin the distribution in the
domestic market of Hollywood movies by MCA Productions Inc.

This is expected to contribute about 20 million pesos
($770,000) annually to ABS-CBN coffers, he added.