Billionaire Dennis Uy's Media Unit Will Invest in Entertainment and Sports Programs
The media unit of billionaire Dennis Uy’s business empire, Dito Communications Media Entertainment (CME) Holdings Corp. has announced its plans to widen its investments and partnerships with “creative organizations and thought leaders to develop and distribute entertainment, sports, and educational programs for various platforms.”
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Dito CME is chaired by Udenna Group chief Dennis Uy and headed by the former chief digital officer of ABS-CBN, Donald Lim, who now sits on the Dito CME board as COO.
“The need for people to connect, to be informed and entertained, to engage in trade, regardless of circumstance, has become a primary basic need,” said Lim in statement. “We have begun to tune in to all forms of media platforms as our coping mechanism to get information and entertainment anywhere and everywhere.”
Dito CME’s content will be focused on the digital space. Earlier this year, Lim squashed rumors that Dito would purchase ABS-CBN, clarifying that the Uy’s media expansion would not touch broadcast.
Dito CME also plans to utilize advertising solutions for its brands and business partners, “not only through the eyeballs from content, but also leveraging assets within the Udenna Goup.”
Dito CME was formerly named ISM Communications Inc. on the stock exchange, originally a mining company that evolved into an information technology and multimedia telecommunications holding company, and has since been added to the Udenna Group after Uy took over.
ISM filed for its corporate name to be changed to Dito CME, which the Securities and Exchange Commission approved in March 2020.
Dito CME is the media counterpart of Uy’s Dito telco. According to Lim, who clarified the relationship between the two, “DitoCME will own indirect interest in Dito Telecommunity once the necessary governmental approvals are obtained and the appropriate transfer documents are executed; however, the holder of the government franchise is Dito Telecommunity.”
Dito Telecommunity is scheduled to commercially launch in March 2021, shaking up the Globe-PLDT/Smart telco duopoly.
Dennis Uy owns 60 percent of Dito Telecommunity through Udenna Corp., which owns 35 percent, and Chelsea Logistics Corp., which owns 25 percent. The Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corp. owns the remaining 40 percent of Dito Telecommunity.
