Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH (18") CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 3521

Introduced by Representative ROSE MARIE J. ARENAS.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Mass media is communication—in all its forms, whether as mainstream media through print and
broadcast, or as social media with digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, to
name a few. If there is anything that should describe this century, it has to be that of information
and communication technology, which has evolved in ways that significantly changed the world,
transforming people and societies, breaking down barriers and dissolving boundaries, leading to a
more globalized community.

In this age of social media, mainstream media, such as print and broadcast, have to contend with
many challenges, mainly competing for audience. With social media, people have gained
unprecedented access to information, through one small device, that they can carry around in their
pockets at all times. It has also provided a social platform for people to engage allowing more
interaction

A 2019 report by We Are Social showed Filipinos spend the most time on the internet and on
social media sites. Filipinos spend an average of 10 hours, 2 minutes on the internet via any device
but the worldwide average for hours spent on the internet is at 6 hours, 42 minutes. The report also
showed Filipinos usually spend over 4 hours on social media daily, while the worldwide average
for social media use is at 2 hours, 16 minutes.

The reality however is that, while some communities find it easier to get internet access, not
everyone does, because most of the areas in the Philippines are still rural and not as developed
as those areas with more access to the internet. Hence, despite the growing popularity of social
media, broadcast media is still the biggest source of information for most Filipinos.


Ina2016 survey conducted by Kantar Media, 96.6 percent of Filipinos watch TV daily. In a survey
conducted by the Asean DNA, a site that promotes a better understanding of the Southeast Asian
Nations, or ASEAN, results showed that Filipinos are the second-most avid watchers of television
in the world, spending an average of 21 hours a week watching TV, compared to Americans at 19
hours; Japan, 17.9 hours; and China 15.7 hours. Radio is still the second largest medium with an
average of 3 in 10 Filipinos listen to the radio daily

Front and center of the broadcast media industry is the ABS-CBN Corporation. It is the largest
free-to-air TV broadcast station in the country and operates 19 radio stations, with a regional
network of 25 originating stations, 8 affiliates, and other relay stations across the county. They are
also into production of TV shows, movies, and music and owns the largest pay TV provider in the
country which also offers broadband internet services. It was the first Filipino company to pursue
global programming through The Filipino Channel (TFC), which broadcasts to viewers in the
United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Being a pillar in the broadcast industry of the Philippines, with the widest reach to more than
10 million Filipinos overseas, it is crucial that their franchise be renewed at the earliest possible
time, to avoid any interruption in the delivery of their services, whether for information or
entertainment.

Equally important is the fact that the renewal of their legislative franchise for the next twenty-five
(25) years will save the jobs and source of livelihood of more than 10,000 Filipino workers and
their families. ABS-CBN currently employs 6,730 regular employees, 900 non-regular workers
and more than 3,325 talents, based on the network's 2018 report to the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) and Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE).

One cannot talk of the beginnings and development of broadcast media in the Philippines without
talking about the history and evolution of the ABS-CBN Corporation. The future of ABS-CBN
is as tied together with the future of Philippine broadcast media, just as much as their pasts are

intrinsically bound together.
k& La l.
Deputy er

Representative
Third District of Pangasinan



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH (18) CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 3521

Introduced by Representative ROSE MARIE J. ARENAS

AN ACT RENEWING THE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO ABS-CBN CORPORATION
UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7966 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “AN ACT GRANTING
ABS-CBN BROADCASTING CORPORATION A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT,
INSTALL, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCASTING
STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES FOR TWENTY-FIVE
(25) YEARS FROM THE EFFECTIVITY OF THIS ACT.”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Nature and Scope of Franchise. — Subject to the provisions of the 1987
Constitution and applicable laws, rules and regulations, the ABS-CBN Broadcasting
Corporation, hereunder referred to as the grantee, its successors or assigns, is hereby granted a
franchise to construct, operate and maintain, for commercial purposes and in the public interest,
television and radio broadcasting stations in and throughout the Philippines, through
microwave, satellite or whatever means including the use of any new technologies in television
and radio systems, with the corresponding technological auxiliaries or facilities, special
broadcast and other broadcast distribution services and relay stations.

SECTION 2. Manner of Operation of Stations or Facilities. — The existing and future stations
or facilities of the grantee shall be constructed in a manner as will at most result only in the
minimum interference on the wavelengths or frequencies of the other existing station or stations
which may be established by law without in any way diminishing its own right to use its
selected wavelengths or frequencies and the quality of transmission or reception thereon as
should maximize rendition of the grantee's services and/or the availability thereof.

SECTION 3. Prior Approval of the National Telecommunications Commission. — The
grantee shall secure from the National Telecommunications Commission the appropriate
permits and licenses for its stations and shall not use any frequency in the television or radio
spectrum without having been authorized by the Commission. The Commission, however, shall
not unreasonably withhold or delay the grant of any such authority


SECTION 4. Responsibility to the Public. — The grantee shall provide adequate public service
time to enable the government, through the said broadcasting stations, to reach the population
on important public issues; provide at all times sound and balanced programming; promote
public participation such as in community programming; assist in the functions of public
information and education; conform to the ethics of honest enterprise; and not use its stations
for the broadcasting of obscene and indecent language, speech, act or scene, or for the
dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentation to the detriment of
the public interest, or to incite, encourage, or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.

SECTION. 5. Right of Government. — A special right is hereby reserved to the President of
the Philippines, in times of rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster or disturbance
of peace and order, to temporarily take over and operate the stations of the grantee, to
temporarily suspend the operation of any station in the interest of public safety, security and
public welfare, or to authorize the temporary use and operation thereof by any agency of the
government, upon due compensation to the grantee, for the use of the said stations during the
period when they shall be so operated.

SECTION 6. Term of Franchise—This franchise shall be IN EFFECT FOR A PERIOD for
a of twenty-five (25) years from the date of EFFECTIVITY of this Act. In the event the grantee
fails to operate continuously for two (2) years, this Franchise, shall be deemed ipso facto
revoked

SECTION 7. Acceptance and Compliance. This Franchise shall become effective upon
acceptance GIVEN in writing to Congress within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this
Act. Upon giving such acceptance, the grantee shall exercise the privileges granted under this
Act.

SECTION 8. Tax Provisions. — The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be liable to pay
the same taxes on their real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of this franchise,
as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay. In addition
thereto, the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall pay a franchise tax equivalent to three
percent (3%) of all gross receipts of the radio/television business transacted under this franchise
by the grantee, its successors or assigns, and the said percentage shall be in lieu of all taxes on
this franchise or earnings thereof: Provided, That the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall
continue to be liable for income taxes payable under Title II of the National Internal Revenue
Code pursuant to Section 2 of Executive Order No. 72 unless the latter enactment is amended
or repealed, in which case the amendment or repeal shall be applicable thereto.

“The grantee shall file the return with and pay the tax due thereon to the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue or his duly authorized representatives in
accordance with the National Internal Revenue Code, and the return shall be subject
to audit by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. *

SECTION 9. Self-regulation by and Undertaking of Grantee— The grantee shall not require
any previous censorship of any speech, play, act or scene, or other matter to be broadcast and/or
telecast from its stations: Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast and/or telecast, shall
cut off from the air the speech, play, act or scene, or other matter being broadcast and/or telecast
if the tendency thereof is to propose and/or incite treason, rebellion or sedition; or the language
used therein or the theme thereof is indecent or immoral, and willful failure to do so shall
constitute a valid cause for the cancellation of this franchise.


SECTION 10. Warranty in Favor of National and Local Governments. — The grantee shall
hold the national, provincial, and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all
claims, accounts, demands or actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property
or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the stations of the grantee.

SECTION 11. Sale, Lease, Transfer, Usufruct, etc. — The grantee shall not lease, transfer,
grant the usufruct of, sell nor assign this franchise or the rights and privileges acquired
thereunder to any person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity,
without the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines. Any person or entity to which
this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned shall be subject to all the same conditions, terms,
and limitations of this Act.

SECTION 12. General Broadcast Policy Law. ~ The grantee shall comply with AND BE
SUBJECT TO THE PROVISIONS OF a general broadcast policy law, which Congress may
hereafter enact.

SECTION 13. Separability Clause. — If any of the sections or provisions of this Act is held
invalid, all the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid.

SECTION14. Repealability and Nonexclusivity Clauses. — This franchise shall be subject to
amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so
requires and shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.

SECTION 15. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date
of its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Approved,