"QTV11" Will Become "GMA News TV" in 2011

Broadcast giant GMA Network, Inc. said on Tuesday it will be reformatting its lifestyle channel QTV 11 by first quarter of next year.

From a lifestyle channel it will become GMA News TV to recapture audience share, according to an official.

Felipe L. Gozon, GMA Network chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters at the sidelines of an appreciation dinner on Tuesday that the move will change most of the programs in the TV channel but will retain other shows that are gaining ratings.

“It will be a news-oriented TV station. GMA News TV will have shows on sports, and news and current affairs,” he said.

Mr. Gozon said the company may not be able to meet its year-end target of P3 billion in profits as it posted a net income of P2.272 billion from January to September, up by 6% from last year.

“We had lower gross revenues in the third quarter. Our revenue is just about P12 billion and we had more expenses,” he said.

The network, however, reported a 26% decline in net income for the third quarter at P583 million, compared with P788 million in the same period last year.

GMA Network’s consolidated revenues stood at P10.876 billion for the nine-month period, up by 8% compared with the P10.025 billion in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, GMA Network Chief Operating Officer Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr. told reporters at the same event that the company had major expenses this year related to “projects for regional push.”

“The company had more than P500 million for capital expenditures this year excluding certain projects,” he said.

Flagship Channel 7 reported a 7% increase in revenues to P9.262 billion while Q Channel 11 recorded a 10% improvement to P346 million. The network also reported a 10% increase in international revenues to P700 million. Radio revenues reached P443 million, up by 73%.

“Our radio is doing very good. It is more than what we expected. We had more or less P500 million in revenues,” he said.

Operating expenses went up by 11% to P6.181 billion while general and administrative expenses rose by 8% to P2.692 billion. “GMA Channel 7 has the highest contribution in our revenues with 80%. The outlook for next year is good,” he said.

Source: Aura Marie P. Dagcutan