ABS-CBN inks P6 billion loan deal

MANILA, Philippines — ABS-CBN Corp. has signed a P6-billion term loan agreement with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the company said.

The loan shall used to refinance maturing debt and for other general corporate requirements,“ ABS-CBN said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The said loan has a term of seven years.

In a separate statement, the company claimed leadership in nationwide TV ratings in February.

Based on data from Kantar Media, ABS-CBN said it registered an average national audience share of 46 percent, 13 points higher than rival GMA Network.

Kantar Media uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes that represent 100 percent of the total Philippine TV viewing population.

ABS-CBN said it commanded the ratings game in areas such as Metro Manila, where it recorded an average audience share of 40 percent against GMA’s 28 percent.

The Lopez-led network also got a 42 percent share in total Luzon against GMA’s 35 percent; 56 percent in Total Visayas against GMA’s 27 percent; and 52 percent against GMA’s 31 percent in Total Mindanao.

GMA Network, however, claimed its leadership in TV ratings in February, based on data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

For the full month of February (with Feb. 18 to 28 based on overnight data), GMA remained the most watched TV station in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM) with an average of 43.6 percent total day people audience share, against ABS-CBN’s 37.9 percent share.

GMA led ratings in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, with a 76 percent and 59 percent share, respectively.

Total day people audience share in Urban Luzon stood at 49.1 percent against rival network ABS-CBN’s 31.4 percent share.

In addition, GMA accounted for 52.1 percent total day people audience in Mega Manila while ABS-CBN comprised 27.6 percent of the total.

GMA cited data from Nielsen which showed a 42.5 percent people audience share versus ABS-CBN’s 33.7 percent in the morning block in NUTAM.

It posted an even bigger lead in the afternoon block with 48.4 percent versus competition’s 35.3 percent.