MANILA – The House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Franchises may vote on the application of ABS-CBN for a fresh 25-year franchise next week.
House panel chair Franz Alvarez said the joint hearing between his committee and the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability are targeting to finish the hearing on the pending franchise renewal today.
He added members of his committee could vote whether the network’s franchise renewal if the discussion on the allegation of ABS-CBN’s bias reporting will be finished immediately.
“We may possibly vote on Monday if the discussion on the last topic will be finished on the same day,” Alvarez said. “But we will definitely finish (the franchise application) this week.”
Previous allegations discussed against the network include on whether or not ABS-CBN violated the Constitution which requires Filipino ownership of mass media, whether or not ABS-CBN application violate the 50-year constitutional limitation for a franchise and whether or not the acquisition of the by the Lopez family after the EDSA Revolution was pursuant to the constitution.
The joint panel, which have already conducted 11 hearings so far, also touched up are allegations of violations of labor laws and tax avoidance against the network.
The ABS-CBN has been off the air since the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease and desist order against the network following the expiration of its franchise on May 4.
Aside from that, the NTC also issued cease and desist order on late Tuesday on stopping ABS-CBN’s digital TV transmission in Metro Manila using Channel 43 (644-650 mhz).
Affected by the said NTC order were ABS-CBN TVPlus channels Cine MO!, Yey!, TeleRadyo, Asianovela, Jeepney TV, and its pay-per-view channel Kapamilya Box Office.
In a separate cease and desist order, the NTC ordered ABS-CBN’s cable company, Sky Cable Corp., to “immediately” stop its SKY direct-to-home satellite transmission, which affected households with SKY Direct satellite dishes./PN
