To save on subsidies while improving public service, why not revive a plan to integrate the government’s two television networks?
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson raised this Tuesday during the deliberations of the 2026 budget of the Presidential Communications Office, including state TV networks People’s Television Network (PTV) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC).
“During the time of then Sec. Sonny Coloma under the presidency of the late President Benigno Aquino III, there was a plan to integrate the (then) three government TV stations and convert the same into a public service broadcaster in the mold of the British Broadcasting Co. This is also budget-related (because) it could save the government from providing subsidy to the stations,” Lacson said. “I think it’s worth studying and considering.”
In Filipino: Lacson, Ibinuhay ang Panukalang Pagsamahin ang State TV Networks para Makatipid at Mapahusay ang Public Service