Converge takes up cable TV challenge

‘We have a direct-to-home franchise already. We need to open that soon, (it could be within the year.) We are already testing it’

While most media platforms are moving away from the conventional direct cable to the internet, pioneering broadband firm Converge ICT Solutions believes directto-home television via satellite will still click.

Consumers, especially in underserved areas that currently lack fiber internet infrastructure, may soon expect improved television offerings from Converge.

Converge chief executive officer and co-founder Dennis Anthony Uy told reporters that the company may invest around P100 million to P150 million for the service.

“We have a direct-to-home franchise already. We need to open that soon, (it could be within the year.) We are already testing it,” Uy said.

“There are lots of unreachable islands that need to be reached. This is the reason we have hybrid combinations no one should be left behind. Regardless of where you are, we should serve you,” he added.

TV business expansion

DTH service involves the distribution of multichannel TV programs by using a satellite system.

Converge is not new in the television business. In collaboration with its affiliate cable company, Pacific Kabelnet Holding Co. Inc., the company introduced Vision, a cutting-edge internet protocol TV, or IPTV, service in 2021.

Responding to the changing viewing preferences of consumers, which have been influenced by the prominence of online streaming television platforms like Netflix, Converge entered the online streaming industry last year by launching BlastTV, a service created in partnership with the local media company Tap Digital Media Ventures Corp.