Filipino cable operators pull plug on ESPN

Hundreds of Filipino cable TV operators servicing 500,000 customers blacked out ESPN in an organised protest against the sports channel's 'ridiculous and insane' subscription charges - a move described by the channel as 'baffling and disappointing'.

Leo San Miguel, vice-chairman of the Philippines Cable TV Association (PCTA) and executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Metro Manila's Home Cable, said the blackout affected 500,000 of the 550,000 households that subscribed to cable nationally.

Mr San Miguel said that while the Philippines' largest cable TV company, Sky Cable, had boycotted Discovery, HBO and ESPN singly in the past, this was the first national move against a programmer.

The channel was dropped on Monday, April 27, and was off the air for a week. Mr San Miguel said operators were not ruling out another suspension unless talks with ESPN Asia were successful.

Speaking from ESPN Asia's Singapore headquarters, its managing director Alexander Brown said the company was taking stock of events in the Philippines.

He said he was disappointed by the association's actions, and baffled by Mr San Miguel's comments.

Mr Brown said: 'We just don't know what this is going to achieve - we value our relations with cable TV operators in the Philippines, like those in the rest of the region.' He said distribution deals had just been signed with two key operators, thought to be Sky Cable and Cable Boss.