PLDT, ABS-CBN call-off P6.75-B SkyCable deal

PLDT [TEL 1298.00, up 0.8%] and ABS-CBN [ABS 4.17, down 3.0%] [link] “mutually decided not to proceed with the sale of Sky Cable to PLDT under the sale and purchase agreement signed by and among the parties in March 2023.” The deal had already passed through the Philippine Competition Commission in January, and Sky Cable was preparing for its last day on air which was scheduled for February 26. In ABS’s disclosure, it said that Sky Cable “has begun to notify its cable TV subscribers that their cable TV subscriptions can continue.”

MB bottom-line: What a mess. Anecdotally, I know many Sky Cable subscribers who proactively canceled their subscriptions to look for a new cable provider in anticipation of the February 26 sign-off. I’m sure a few will go back to Sky Cable, but how many will simply remain off-grid as part of the growing segment of “cord cutters”? How many will be lost permanently to other cable providers? I’m curious to read all about just how damaging this failed sale was to Sky Cable’s business in ABS’s Q1/24 report. Was it just another botched deal by MVP? Or did some weirdness come out of the woodwork to push back against the deal to protect the “legacy” of what the Dutertes did using the House of Representatives? There’s always the possibility that some commercial issue came up during due diligence, but that seems less likely given how late we are in the process and how both companies appear to have gone out of their way to frame this as a mutual decision. 

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