ABS-CBN is now 84% content — and still losing money. Can P6 billion fix it?
MANILA, Philippines – ABS-CBN has already become overwhelmingly a content business, but it is still bleeding money. Now, the Lopez family and other investors are putting P6 billion behind the media company with the hope that its post-broadcast model can finally turn a profit again.
The fresh capital comes as former chairman Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III again publicly rallies behind an ABS-CBN that looks very different from the television giant his family once controlled. Six years after losing its broadcast franchise, the company has shifted its business model to make money producing and distributing shows, films, music, and live entertainment rather than owning the infrastructure that brings them to viewers.
That transformation is becoming even clearer in its latest earnings. ABS-CBN reported consolidated revenues of P6.88 billion in the first half of 2026, down 17% from a year earlier. Its Content Production and Distribution business alone generated P5.76 billion, accounting for about 84% of the group’s entire revenue, up from about 77% a year earlier.
This shows that ABS-CBN has overwhelmingly become a producer and distributor of shows, films, music, and live entertainment. The problem is that becoming a content company has yet to stop the losses. ABS-CBN’s net loss more than doubled to P1.83 billion from P852 million, even as the company continued cutting costs. And investors are about to put P6 billion behind that model.
Three Lopez family investment companies – Crème Investment Corporation, Mantes Corporation, and Presta Holdings Company – have committed P2.2 billion from personal resources. Lopez Inc. will add P300 million, while private investment firm I&C Holdings Corporation will provide the biggest share at P3.5 billion.
ABS-CBN said the capital would strengthen its balance sheet and give it resources to pursue a more sustainable “content-led media and entertainment business.”
Gabby Lopez, who stepped down from ABS-CBN’s board in 2020, spoke on behalf of the three family branches, saying they were putting their own money behind the company. His renewed public involvement came just days after his family’s Crème Investment sold its stake in the broader Lopez holding company to San Miguel Corporation’s Ramon Ang.
The capital will have a lot of heavy lifting to do, even as the ailing media giant is already trying to keep its finances under control. ABS-CBN has already been cutting expenses. Consolidated operating costs may have narrowed by P482 million (5%) to P8.46 billion in the first half. But this was outpaced by the fall in revenue of roughly P1.4 billion – nearly three times the savings from lower expenses – helping push the company deeper into the red.
In other words, it doesn’t seem that ABS-CBN can simply cost-cut its way back to profitability.
There are signs that the core content operation is holding up better than the group numbers suggest. Content revenues may have declined 9%, but ABS-CBN said this was partly because 2025 benefited from political advertising, BINI’s sold-out Philippine Arena concert, and the hit film My Love Will Make You Disappear. Excluding political advertising and one-off items in both periods, ABS-CBN said the segment’s recurring EBITDA improved 2%, while its recurring net loss narrowed 1%.
International syndication and co-productions also grew, while ABS-CBN is banking on a fuller slate of films and live events in the second half, including BINI’s world tour.
ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak said in June 2025 that the company was aiming to return to profitability within 18 months. With that deadline fast approaching and another P1.83 billion in losses booked in the first half, the Lopez family’s crown jewel will need to put its enormous P6-billion capital infusion to work quickly if it is to turn the business around. – Rappler.com
