PNoy admin to privatize govt TV stations

The Aquino administration is eyeing the privatization of sequestered television stations RPN 9 and IBC 13 after two years at the earliest, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) secretary Herminio Coloma said Sunday. “It’s clear the sequestered government television stations should be privatized... But it won’t happen immediately because we have to face the reality that they are not as financially viable as they used to be," Coloma said. He said what the government will do first is improve the two stations’ financial status. He said Malacañang will nominate to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) a new set of board of directors for the two stations pending their privatization. RPN 9 and IBC 13 were sequestered after the late President Corazon Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III, took over in 1986, replacing Ferdinand Marcos. As for state-owned National Broadcast Network 4, Coloma said a new board of directors would be constituted and better programming would be developed. He said he wants to see the former People’s Television 4 develop into something similar to the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC). He said changes would also have to be implemented in the government-owned Radyo ng Bayan and its stations in Metro Manila and the provinces. “We need to make changes, including in the communications sector such as the television stations and even Radyo ng Bayan. We are all covered by the policy changes that the President wants to implement," he said. Coloma last week made the rounds of the agencies under the PCO, or the former Office of the Press Secretary, after the release of Executive Order No. 4, which delineates the functions of President Aquino’s communications team. He said he has toured the offices of the Philippine Information Agency and the Bureau of Broadcast Services, which are located on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. He said he was given an update of the activities of the agencies and he briefed the concerned officials about the communications thrust of the Aquino administration. - KBK, HS, GMANews.TV