GMA Network starts digital rollout

MANILA, Philippines – Broadcast firm GMA Network Inc. is making an initial investment of P416 million for its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service.

In a statement yesterday, GMA said the amount would be used for three high-powered transmitters and their related antenna and connectivity requirements, as well as a fully-mirrored head-end system, which is a master facility for grouping and digitally encoding programs.

GMA is adapting the Japanese Digital TV standard or ISDB-T to comply with the rules and regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission.

“Considering the increasing number of ISDB-T ready homes in the country, we are now prepared to exit the test phase and begin with the first part of our DTT rollout in Mega Manila. We are replicating the same level of superiority and consistency that we have exhibited in our analog signal as we shift to digital,” GMA chairman and chief executive officer Felipe Gozon said.

GMA president and chief operating officer Gilberto Duavit Jr. said all technical back-end requirements related to the rollout of the DTT service have long been ready, including the media asset management and broadcast automation systems.

“It will not be long before our DTT product is introduced to the market,” Duavit said.

During the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Digicon, GMA’s technology arm GMA New Media Inc. unveiled a prototype of the DTT product, which can function as a receiver for digital TV and a digital media set-top box.

GMA’s DTT device can enable digital broadcast on analog TV.

It could also turn the unit into a smart TV by allowing users to play on-demand content and run other applications.

Gozon said GMA’s DTT product would be different from competitor ABS-CBN Corp.’s DTT service, the TVplus box.

GMA’s device has been issued a certificate of registration for the utility model application by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

As of end-September, GMA’s net earnings hit P3.1 billion, an all-time high and up 72 percent from the previous year’s P1.8 billion.