Broadcast network ABS-CBN Corp. will spend up to P7.5 billion to complete 10 Hollywood-style sound stages in Bulacan province until 2016.
ABS-CBN chief finance officer Rolando Valdueza told reporters the company allotted P750 million per sound stage, including the cost of the land.
A sound stage or studio is a soundproof, hangar-like building used for television or film production.
“We are targeting 10 [soundstages] by next year, but we are still working at least two soundstages at the early part of the year,” Valdueza said.
The network said it aimed to save around 65 percent to 75 percent in shooting location costs, with the construction of the modern sound stages.
About 80 percent of ABS-CBN’s production is remote and only 20 percent is shot in studio, the company said earlier.
The broadcast company, controlled by the Lopez family, was also in talks with foreign consultants to improve the quality of show production.
ABS-CBN reported a net income of P569 million in the January to March period, up 5.8 percent from the P538-million profit it booked in the same period last year.
Revenue rose 2.4 percent in the three-month period to P8.4 billion from P8.2 billion a year earlier.
Advertising revenues increased 3.5 percent to P4.3 billion from P4.1 billion while consumer sales rose to P4.13 billion from P4.08 billion.
Valdueza said the company had started to move into the digital TV era, with the launching of ABS-CBN TV Plus in mid-February. He said digital TV was now being enjoyed by more than 300,000 households in Mega Manila, North Luzon and Cebu.
The network is also spending P500 million to expand digital TV networks in Cebu, Davao, Cagayan, Bacolod and Iloilo.
“If the market is very encouraging, maybe we can look at the other major cities and provinces,” Valdueza said.