Pandemic forces GMA Network to defer 30% of year’s spending
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
GMA Network, Inc. will defer 30% or around P376 million of its capital expenditure (capex) budget for this year due to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, its top official said.
“Around P376 million worth of capex will be deferred due to the COVID crisis, which are composed mostly of equipment upgrades,” GMA Network Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Felipe L. Gozon told BusinessWorld via e-mail on Monday.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on June 30, the network said it had set a capex of P1.22 billion this year, which will be financed by internally generated funds.
The network is planning to launch more digital channels this year. “The programming of which are seen to complement those of our existing channels: GMA-7, GMA News TV, and our recently launched digital channel Heart of Asia,” Mr. Gozon said.
“Another major project will also be announced soon. It is important to note that all these were conceptualized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Mr. Gozon said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting last week that its newly introduced GMA Affordabox has been selling like “hot pandesal.”
He said GMA is looking to increase the production of the device with the surge in demand.
The device is part of the company’s compliance with the government-mandated digital television shift over the next three years.
Mr. Gozon also said GMA is free of debt as of end-March, emphasizing its “ability to balance ratings growth with sound financials.”
In the first three months of 2020, GMA’s net income plunged by 19% to P583.42 million with the lack of ads and the pandemic-induced quarantine imposed in the middle of March.
Total revenues were down 7% in the first quarter to P3.53 billion. Online advertising sales expanded by 39%, especially from its online news and entertainment sites and YouTube channels.
“In the next months and years, we will see a transformation of the broadcast industry,” Mr. Gozon said, adding it will be “challenging” yet “filled with opportunities to enrich the lives of Filipinos.”
