ALLTV and PCTA Ink Deal for Expansion of Broadcast TV Coverage

Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS) has announced its partnership with the Philippine Cable and Telecommunications Association Inc. (PCTA). The broadcast deal was closed in an effort to air the ALLTV channel throughout the country. AMBS is currently owned by business tycoon and former senator Manuel Villar.

Under the partnership, AMBS will be allowed to stream ALLTV on close to 300 additional cable operators nationwide. At the moment, ALLTV is only available on a handful of channels. Among these include Channel 2 on Free TV and Planet Cable, Channel 35 on Sky or CignalTV, Channel 32 on GSAT, Channel 23 on Cablelink, and Channel 2 on other cable TV providers.

AMBS president Maribeth Tolentino considers the recent deal “very significant,” particularly since it will expand the reach of ALLTV even in remote areas across the country. “This collaboration between AMBS and PCTA is very timely and I’d like to say that cable TV still plays an important role as far as distributing content or programs like this as we are the last mile in delivering content to the most far-flung areas across the country,” elaborated PCTA president Venancio Lo.

Over the past month, ALLTV was also able to ink a deal with CNN Philippines. Tolentino along with AMBS chief financial officer Maryknoll Zamora participated in the signing of the agreement with CNN Philippines president Benjamin Ramos. This enabled CNN Philippines to air “News Night” — its flagship news program — on ALLTV.

AMBS acquired the broadcast frequencies of ABS-CBN after the latter’s franchise expired in 2020. Earlier in January, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) granted a “test broadcast” permit to AMBS for the Channel 2 spectrum. Along with this, it also had the provisional authority to use digital TV frequencies in Metro Manila and Mega Manila on Channel 16.

Source: Inquirer