MANILA – Operations of ABS-CBN TV Plus should have been ceased along with its other operations when it went off the air with the expiration of its legislative franchise last May, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said.
NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba have committed to the House of Representatives to halt the ABS-CBN TV Plus services within Monday along with its Channel 43, which is using the franchise of AMCARA Broadcasting Network.
“All broadcast operations of ABS-CBN are only authorized through its expired franchise,” Cordoba said during the House of Representatives committee on legislative franchises hearing on ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
“In other words, ABS-CBN’s airing of digital TV on Channel 43 is part of the cease and desist order because the franchise that they used for that is ABS-CBN’s franchise,” he added.
Cordoba added that it has received guidance from the Office of the Solicitor General that the agency must issue an alias cease and desist order against the continued broadcast of ABS-CBN programs through the “digibox.”
Cordoba’s statement came after he was questioned by Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor for allowing the ABS-CBN TV Plus to go on with its operation even if its franchise expired last May 4.
Defensor added that the illegal operation of the network the last eight weeks was illegal and usufructuary and could merit Cordoba with charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.
“The law is the law and we have to obey that. Today, the continuing use of that frequency should stop,” Defensor told Cordoba. “The fact that ABS-CBN continues to air using the same frequency is not only a violation of the franchise but it is also a usurpation in the powers of Congress.”
“[Provisional authority] was predicated on the effectivity of the franchise of the corporation…Cordoba should resign because he is not doing his job,” he added.
ABS-CBN network has been off the air since May 5 after the NTC issued a cease and desist order against it due to the lack of a congressional franchise./PN
