His plans sound good and we wish him luck in making things happen.
Incoming Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) chief Martin Andanar revealed that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte had given him “blanket authority” to revamp the state media infrastructure.
That said, one of the things on Andanar’s to-do list is to sell government-owned TV network IBC-13 for PHP10 billion. The money would then be used to fund an upgrade of other state media assets.
“Andanar explained that the government can charge a premium for IBC-13, which was sequestered after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, since it is the last VHF available franchise,” reports ABS-CBN News.
He stated, “We have to sell it. We have to privatize it already. The money goes back to the treasury.”
But Andanar also acknowledged that the network had labor problems and owed PHP800 million in back wages to employees. So, before IBC-13 can be sold, he said that they have work on “increasing the valuation of the network.”
The report noted: “Andanar then added that he also aims to reorganize state-run PTV-4 and pattern it after the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC), which has editorial independence.” Andanar said, “We’ll hire the best news director. We’ll hire the best people on the bus.”
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