Sky Cable Sale to PLDT Not Happening…Again

This all sounds incredibly familiar. 

On Thursday (February 22), ABS-CBN announced that the sale of its cable business Sky Cable to PLDT is not happening. Both companies said they have “mutually decided” not to proceed with the sale and did not elaborate.

The announcement comes just weeks after regulators approved the sale and nearly one year after PLDT first announced the acquisition.

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Following the development, ABS-CBN said that it will continue its cable TV service for its subscribers. It had earlier announced that Sky Cable would be discontinued following its sale to the PLDT Group, which also runs its own cable TV service, Cignal.

Meanwhile, Sky’s internet broadband service, SKYFiber remains unaffected.

“We thank all our Sky subscribers for their continued patronage and support,” ABS-CBN said. “We remain committed to providing the same level of customer experience and service for both our cable and internet services.”

PLDT-Sky Cable Deal Timeline

This is not the first time that this transaction failed to materialize. 

Reports that PLDT was planning to acquire Sky Cable from ABS-CBN first surfaced in September 2020, just months after the Lopez-owned network was ordered to shut down following its failure to secure an extension of its broadcast franchise from Congress.

PLDT soon confirmed its interest in the acquisition, only to abandon the bid in November 2020. Back then PLDT Chairman Manny Pangilinan said he was concerned that, after the company’s legal team reviewed the Bayanihan to Recover as One Law, it was possible for the anti-monopoly body Philippine Competition Commission to reverse agreements.

“The prospect of divestment might be real so we decided not to attract the rise,” Pangilinan had said at the time.

However, it seems negotiations continued between the two companies, and by March 2023, PLDT had officially announced that it was going ahead with the acquisition. The reported purchase price was P6.75 billion.

It made the announcement with the caveat that it needed to wait for final approvals from regulatory bodies, including the PCC. 

The approval finally came almost a year later, in January 2024.

At the time, PLDT said the purchase would strengthen both companies’ coverage and services, particularly in remote areas.

For ABS-CBN, the sale would have generated P4 billion in gross proceeds, which the Lopez-owned network said would allow it to focus on content creation. The company was forced to pivot from its main broadcast business following its failure to renew its broadcast license, launching online-based channels for its news and entertainment content. It also signed partnership agreements with free-to-air channels such as Zoe Broadcasting’s A2Z channel, TV5, and even its erstwhile rival GMA Network. The network also doubled down on content sales and licensing to its domestic and international clients.

The Lopez Group and the MVP Group were also briefly involved in talks for a giant joint venture that would have combined the extensive resources of ABS-CBN and TV5, but the deal never got off the ground after earning the ire of government officials.

ABS-CBN has reported heavy losses following the discontinuation of its free-to-air TV services in 2020. In the first nine months of 2023, the network reported a net loss of P3.3 billion, up from P1.87 billion net loss in the same period in 2022.