Owners of ABS-CBN do not care about press freedom more than the ordinary Juan de la Cruz.
For now, it can continue to air its news and public affairs program and their daily fare of teledramas in the internet.
Yes, ABS-CBN cares about its 11,000 workers (or is it 3,506). But no more than its union.
ABS-CBN owners do not care more about the 7M viewers it got when they shifted to another media platform.
But it cares about its viewership market.
And it cares more about the national TV viewership that are bombarded by a daily doze of ads that eats up more than 15% of its airtime.
Advertisers will ask value for their money in every commercial placed in TV time slots.
And the willingness of advetisers to pay X amount of exposure depends on the number and width of the TV station’s reach.
ABS-CBN is ahead of the rest of the pack with 47% audience share.
This is where it will hurt the most for the giant television network if it cannot get its franchise and lose that audience share and dominance in free television.
For ABS-CBN owners, this is where and when it will hurt most.
