GMA NEW MEDIA, Inc., the digital media and technology arm of GMA Network, Inc., on Thursday said that while there had been reduced mobility in the country due to quarantine policies, it could still sell at least 500,000 units of its new digital TV mobile receiver this year.
“Mobility is one of our motivations for producing this product now. We are hoping that we can somehow influence the consumption of the television even outside of the home. That is one,” said Dennis Augusto “Dingdong” L. Caharian, president and chief operating officer of GMA New Media, at a virtual briefing.
GMA Now, the media firm’s mobile digital terrestrial television (DTT) receiver, will be launched on Sunday, Feb. 7.
The device, which will be sold for P649 with no monthly fees, enables Android smartphones to receive live digital TV broadcasts of GMA, GMA News TV, and Heart of Asia channels, as well as other free-to-air channels.
The product also allows users to send messages to each other while watching GMA programs, “because we saw that a lot of people nowadays actually watch TV with their handsets with them,” Mr. Caharian said. “So that is also one of the motivations.”
For the first year, the company is “within the 500,000 to a million range” in terms of the expected number of GMA Now units to be sold, Mr. Caharian also noted.
He said the coronavirus vaccine rollout and the lifting of quarantine restrictions “would definitely help” the business.
The listed media company announced recently that it had allocated more than P20 billion for capital expenditures and content cost for the current year until 2023.
GMA Network shares closed 4.48% higher at P6.30 apiece on Thursday. — Arjay L. Balinbin
