ABS-CBN, Korean partner to stop O-Shopping this year

MANILA, Philippines — ABS-CBN Corp. and its Korean partner will cease operations of their home television shopping joint venture after seven years of operations.

The broadcast giant said ACJ O Shopping Corp., a joint venture with Korea’s CJ ENM Co. Ltd., would stop operations toward the end of the year and would start letting go of employees next month.

ABS-CBN cited ACJ’s losses in the past two years, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reasons for the decision to cease operations.

ABS-CBN said CJ ENM has also decided to move its business out of Southeast Asia completely.

“The past two years have been challenging for the company as it experienced financial losses. The COVID-19 outbreak has and will continue to take a toll on the business this year,” the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

“As a result, ACJ O has made the difficult decision to let go of its employees starting Aug. 7. The company is thankful for their valuable contributions through the years and ensures that they will receive separation packages as the law requires,” it said.

ABS-CBN declined to disclose the number of ACJ O employees that will be affected.

The company said ACJ would continue to serve its customers “as best it can” despite the reduction in manpower in the next few months.

ACJ for the past seven years has been offering Filipinos TV shopping convenience and making quality products affordable via the O-Shopping Channel.

O-Shopping was being broadcasted via local channel ABS-CBN Channel 2 and ABS-CBN TV Plus, both of which are currently off-air following cease and desist orders from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Last March, ABS-CBN also announced that Play Innovations Inc., the franchisee of KidZania Manila, decided to file a temporary suspension of operations with the Department of Labor and Employment effective June 16 to Aug. 15 as the successive extensions of the quarantine have adversely affected the company.

Kidzania Manila, which provides a learning experience for children ages four to 17, has been closed since March 11 as part of safety measures in preventing the spread of COVID-19.