ABS-CBN Corp. on Tuesday said net loss jumped 159 percent in the first quarter of the year, mostly because of the non-renewal of its Congressional franchise to operate as a broadcasting company.
The Lopez-led broadcasting company said net loss amounted to P1.94 billion in the January-to-March period, up from P751 million in the same period last year.
The company in 2020 posted a net loss of P13.5 billion, reversing its P2.6-billion earnings in 2019.
ABS-CBN generated consolidated revenues of P3.9 billion from advertising and consumer sales, 54.6 percent lower year-on-year.
Advertising revenues decreased 78.3 percent to P929 million from P4.3 billion due to the absence of the company in the free-to-air advertising space following the cease-and-desist order issued by NTC on its broadcast operations on May 5, 2020 and the non-renewal of its Congressional franchise.
“Consumer sales was similarly affected by the cease-and-desist order as this prohibited the Company in engaging in Sky Cable’s DTH services and distribution of TV Plus Boxes,” ABS-CBN said.