Termination of content partnership with TV5 deepens ABS-CBN crisis

Insider Spotlight

• ABS-CBN gets notice ending its TV content supply deal with TV5
• Network disputes payment claims but has thirty days to fix arrears
• Franchise loss keeps ABS CBN in the red even as its digital pivot gains traction
  
  

Lopez family-controlled ABS-CBN Corp. has received a notice of termination of its TV content supply agreement with TV5 run by businessman Manuel Pangilinan, a blow the media company calls “critical” as it struggles to recover from the loss of its broadcast franchise and pandemic-era disruption.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Dec. 4, 2025, ABS-CBN said it “deeply regrets that this action has been taken at this critical juncture in our recovery,” stressing that it continues to face “unprecedented challenges arising from our franchise loss.”

The dispute

The deal termination was first reported by Bilyonaryo.com which pointed to ABS-CBN's delay in remitting P1 billion in payments to TV5.

The Lopez-led network said the “amounts and manner of the claims remain disputed” but acknowledged obligations to TV5.

It has been given thirty days to settle, a timeline the company described as “challenging given our current circumstances” yet pledged to “finding a way to fulfill our obligations—not only to TV5 but to all our partners and stakeholders.”

ABS-CBN flatly rejected talk that it deliberately delayed payments, saying “there is no truth to any insinuation" that it "willfully delayed payment.”

The backdrop

The company pointed to “severe financial constraints” after regulators ordered it off free-to-air TV and radio in May 2020, followed by the House of Representatives’ denial of its franchise renewal two months later.

The move “significantly reduced ABS-CBN's revenues, causing the company to sustain losses for the first time since its return after Martial Law,” it said.

While some revenue streams have since recovered, ABS-CBN admitted it still operates at a loss, even as its shift into a broader “storytelling company” has produced “steady performance improvement.”

Why it matters

The TV5 content deal has been a key distribution pillar for ABS-CBN’s entertainment slate after its analog shutdown, giving the network a nationwide free to air window via a partner’s franchise instead of its own. 

Losing the partnership would narrow its traditional TV reach and intensify pressure to grow digital and international revenues faster.

What’s next

ABS-CBN said it remains “open to fair and reasonable solutions” with TV5 and vowed that, partnership or not, “we will find ways to reach you, our audiences.”

The company promised further updates “as developments warrant” and reiterated that “being in the service of the Filipino will continue to guide all our actions.” — Daxim L. Lucas | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma