Cignal TV president and chief executive officer Jane Jimenez-Basas was honored on Thursday as Asia’s Media Woman of the Year by ContentAsia, a premier information resource that covers the entertainment media industry across the Asia-Pacific region.
The awarding is one of the highlights of the ongoing ContentAsia Summit 2017 in Singapore where Jimenez-Basas, who has held leadership roles at Media5, Smart Telecommunications, and Talk N’ Text, among other companies in the MVP group, also delivered the keynote message.
In honoring Jimenez-Basas, Janine Stein, editorial director of ContentAsia, said the former steered CignalTV “in a space inspired on all levels by regional giants, global streamers and is confident that Cignal could be part of the push towards 35 percent of subscription-video penetration in the Philippines.”
Under Jimenez-Basas’ stewardship, CignalTV is now the fastest growing subscription television company in the Philippines with close to two million subscribers plus another 65.9 million broadband and mobile subscribers from the Smart/PLDT group.
Considered as the country’s premier satellite television service provider, CignalTV also recently launched Cignal Entertainment, a full entertainment brand of original content designed to cater to Filipinos’ evolving and upgrading tastes.
For Cignal Entertainment, CignalTV has partnered with Sari Sari Network, Unitel Productions, The IdeaFirst Company, Content Cows Company, Fox International and Masque Valley Productions and recently premiered its initial offering, the action drama mini-series, “Tukhang.”
In her keynote speech, Jimenez-Basas said she is convinced that there will be a “content explosion” in CignalTV with the growing access of content creators, especially of Filipino content, to various digital platforms.
“Quality will improve with content creators, of which Cignal is now one with Cignal Entertainment. We will fight to win customers whose tastes are becoming more sophisticated and discriminating, given their access to global content,” she pointed out.
Extremely grateful and humbled at being named Asia’s Media Woman of the Year, Jimenez-Basas views the award as a challenge to CignalTV’s stature as an industry innovator. She cites the mentorship and guidance of superiors Manuel V. Pangilinan and Ray C. Espinosa as key in pushing her and her management team to seeking premium Filipino content.
“The award is significant for me because it validates the good work done by people and organizations. Beyond being recognized for achieving business objectives, it is special in a huge way because it enriches one’s spirit and inspires one to achieve even better things especially for the Filipino audience. In the process, it can also inspire others to do the same,” she further noted.
Jimenez-Basas predicted that in the next five to 10 years, broadband household penetration will be very pervasive, with Fiber and 5G technologies supporting seamless delivery of video content.
“The big screen will still be the dominant platform with a one TV per household reality. But for many individuals, smaller screens will be the main device for personal content consumption needs. When that pivot happens, we will be ready for it, we will maximize our growth,” she boldly declared.
Cignal TV, Inc. is a subsidiary of MediaQuest Holdings, the media arm of the PLDT Group.
