Losses force Tieng divestment in RPN-9

MANILA, Philippines - Solar Entertainment Corp. president and chief executive officer Wilson Tieng said yesterday the divestment of ownership and management of his family’s flagship network was due to the mounting losses in RPN-9.

“We were losing money,” he said.

“Selling our shares in RPN, and giving up our stake in the news channel, does not mean that we have given up entirely on news. We may invest in a news channel sometime in the future,” he said.

Solar Entertainment runs and owns six entertainment channels and three sports channels, and its investment in RPN did not bring about the desired results, Tieng said.

With the sale of its shares in RPN, the company can now continue to provide its discerning viewers with quality programming. Solar’s channels bring in programs like the NBA, FIBA, The Vampire Diaries, Ellen, The Big Bang Theory, the Pacquiao fights, and many others.

He stressed that Solar Entertainment – which owns the channels 2nd Avenue, ETC, Jack City, JackTV, My Movie Channel, Solar Sports, Basketball TV, The Game Channel, and NBA Premium – has not been owned by any other entity other than the Tieng family since its inception in 1976. 

He said the confusion could come from the fact that both networks use the registered trademark “Solar” in their company names, and sometimes referred to interchangeably. 

“But the fact is that the two entities have always been distinct, beginning from their content, but extending to their operations and management, and now, to their ownership,” he said.

The network executive said to further emphasize the split, the news channel dropped the use of the name “Solar” and changed it to 9TV.

He assured the public that the Tieng family will continue to support Solar Entertainment to provide quality programming in multimedia platforms.