TV5 to build multi-billion-peso media center
TV5 has plunked a multi-billion-peso investment in the construction of a vast, state-of-the-art media center on more than a hectare of land in the Mandaluyong City business district to consolidate broadcast operations.
The Kapatid network plans to build a nine-storey corporate building, and two eight-storey buildings for radio-TV production with the most advanced digital features in the 63,000-sq. m. media center.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Sunday, January 23 at the construction site located at the corner of Reliance and Sheridan streets in Mandaluyong City. TV5 Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, President and CEO Ray Espinosa, COO Roberto Barreiro and other TV5 executives were present during the event. Local government officials headed by Mandaluyong City Mayor Ben Hur Abalos and Congressman Neptali Gonzales arrived in full force to support the project. A Feng Shui ritual by Master Charlie Chan was officiated before the ceremony.
A symbolic time capsule, which contains a copy of the media center plan, TV5's current programming grid and a copy of the "Aksyon JournalisMO" newscast was planted in the construction site. By tradition, the time capsule will be retrieved and replaced by a new one after 50 years.
First phase of the construction, the news department facility, is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. The media center is scheduled for full completion in 2012.
Architectural design of the TV5 Media Center pays tribute to the achievements of "Broadcast through the Ages." Pangilinan said the Media Center will be "a beacon for broadcast professionals and enthusiasts working together to enhance the quality of Philippine broadcasting."
Currently, TV5 operates in five different locations: Novaliches, Broadway Centrum and the SM City North EDSA Skydome in Quezon City, Marajo Tower at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, and the PLDT main office in Makati City.
Pangilinan, also the PLDT chairman, could not help but mention how his broadcast media interests grew since his failed bid to acquire GMA-7 in 2001 through the telecom giant's Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary, MediaQuest Holdings. Pangilinan held the reigns in TV5 after MediaQuest bought a majority stake in the station's mother firm, ABC Development Corp., and entertainment block-timer MPB Primedia in 2009.
"As you know matagal na ang pangarap namin na magkaroon ng television station. In 2001, kausap namin ang GMA-7. Kung natuloy yun nasa Quezon City kami, hindi kami nasa Mandaluyong. Anyway, sabi nga sa video we are now in five locations right which is really important if not imperative that we centralize the operations of TV5 in one location," Pangilinan said.
Photos by Voltaire Domingo, NPPA Images
