75% of Filipinos say ABS-CBN must get another franchise – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Seventy-five percent of Filipinos agree that Congress must grant media broadcasting company ABS-CBN another 25-year franchise.

This was according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which results were released Saturday, a day after the House committee on legislative franchises shot down ABS-CBN Corp.’s legislative franchise application.

SWS said the poll was conducted while public hearings on the network’s franchise application were ongoing at the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, 13 percent are not in favor of granting the media giant a fresh franchise while 10 percent are undecided on the issue, SWS said.

The July 3 to July 6 survey posed the following question to its respondents: “Dapat na i-renew ng Kongreso ang prangkisa ng ABS-CBN upang muli nitong maipalabas ang kanyang mga programa (Congress should renew the franchise of ABS-CBN so that it can broadcast its programs again.)”

The poll used a probability-based survey that was conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).

SWS said it interviewed 1,555 Filipinos aged 18 years old and above. Of the total, 306 are in Metro Manila, 451 in Balance Luzon, 388 in the Visayas, and 410 in Mindanao.

The survey also has sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, and ±5 for Balance Luzon, ±5% Visayas, and ±5% in Mindanao.

KGA