Destiny rebuffs Sky, Home Cable

Plans of industry leaders Sky Cable and Home Cable to create a powerful triumvirate in the local cable television industry turned sour after Destiny Cable finally decided to say no with finality to a proposed merger.

Instead, Destiny, currently holding the third largest share of the market at 15 percent, has decided to merge, initially on an operational or business level with Global Cable TV, a small player in Metro Manila but which can provide Destiny with an opportunity to tap Global’s clout in the Taiwanese market.

Global, which operates in Makati, Pasay, Manila, Mandaluyong, and San Juan, has strong business links with Eastern Multi-Media which is the single largest cable company in Taiwan.

According to Destiny president David Lim, the merger with Global will presently be limited on the business level, but there are talks about putting the cable TV businesses of both Destiny and Global under a holding company.

Following the pullout on Oct. 14 last year by major foreign content provider Star Group from Destiny, the latter’s market share dropped from 25 percent last year to 15 percent at present. It was shortly after that when Lopez-owned Sky Cable and PLDT’s Home Cable which have merged under Beyond Cable offered to let Destiny be part of the merger.

"But we decided to do business on our own, although Sky is still coming back with its offer. Being part of a monopoly is not the spirit of our company. My mother (Elena Lim) brought in the people’s car and opened up the electronics market in the country. Our family is into bringing in new products as well as giving consumers a choice," he said.

Lim added that Sky and Home were so sure that Destiny would merge with them. "But we would rather lose our investment than be swallowed by them," he said. Sky and Home control about 80 percent of the cable TV market.

The pullout of Star Group’s leading cable channels such as ESPN, Star Sports, Star Movies, and Star World, according to Lim, proved to be a blessing in disguise because Destiny is now able to focus on refocusing its business, in particular the data business where the potential is huge. "It shifted our attention into building a network for data and voice," he emphasized.

He believes that the local market is big enough for another cable operator. Metro Manila has a total of 300,000 cable TV subscribers out of a potential of 800,000 to one million.

Since last year, Destiny has invested P100 million to improve its business, particularly the fiber optic distribution for broadband data. Another P200 million or even more has been programmed for next year. The company expects its infrastructure to be ready for commercial launch in January of next year.

Part of Destiny’s plan includes providing the broadband super highway that will carry video and data to other cable companies all over the country.

Lim also revealed that they will start offering next month a high-end tier or package for Destiny customers who want an additional four or five channels and are willing to pay an additional P100 a month for it. Destiny will be offering the addressable set-up boxes to these customers at very low prices if they so desire.

"The Solid Group, to which Destiny belongs, has decided to invest more in the cable business and make it its own core business," he stressed. The group is likewise going into developing company-owned land assets in Manila to build condominiums.

In the case of the cable internet business of Destiny, Lim said they are targeting a doubling of current subscriber base to 20,000 next year.