Saturday proved to be a bombshell day for the entire media industry and also on the Philippine Stock Exchange when ABS-CBN Corporation’s SkyCable bought out all the cable assets of Destiny Cable in a PHP3.5 Billion Blockbuster deal that will create a 650,000-subscriber, 45% Market share Pay TV Giant.

Solid Group, the group owner of Destiny, has agreed to sell off all of its cable broadband assets in order to focus more on its growing core business, which is the myPhone brand of affordable mobile phones, alongside its burgeoning Professional Video sales distribution and also Electronics service repair shops.

Included in the deal were Solid Broadband Corp., which provides the infrastructure component for Destiny, and UNI-Cable Inc, which serves as its affiliate in Cebu.

SkyCable’s Chief Operating Officer Rodrigo Montinola has assured Destiny Cable subscribers that there will be a smooth and orderly transition, alongside the promise of more expanded offerings and also, the promise of honoring commitments to Destiny’s existing contracts.

But in a sense, the SkyCable buyout of Destiny may have a profound effect on the latter’s programming, especially on the anime channel front.

Which leads us to this question: Will Destiny Subscribers finally receive Hero TV after Seven Long Years?

It is a known fact that Destiny cable subscribers had been itching to have either Cinema One or Hero TV on their lineup ever since the channels began telecasting in 2001 and 2005 respectively.  In fact, so many of these subscribers had been clamoring to at least put Hero TV on the lineup, exclusivity be damned.

But since ABS-CBN is tight on it’s cable exclusivity with it’s subsidiary, Destiny cable subscribers were either forced to add SkyCable to their television sets, or even just wait for the right time for ABS-CBN to either change its mind.

Until the news of the buyout.

It may be construed as a big development for Destiny’s subscribers, though in the most unexpected way. Expect SkyCable to work its proven magic that it has done to become the country’s top cable company. Hero TV will also be rewarded in this masterstroke of its parent company, as it will add up an additional 150,000 subscribers to it’s probable audience in the metropolis and elsewhere. But Hero should also know that with additional viewers comes additional revenue that will be generated. Hero should, at least before they will be introduced officially as part of the Destiny lineup, improve first its programming so as to say that “Hey, this is what we offer, this is what we show to SkyCable subscribers”. That way, they can convince Destiny subscribers to pay a little premium for what they can offer.

Second, Hero should prove itself that with the additional number of potential viewers, adding to a near-monopoly of the pay-TV landscape, they are the big league when it comes to being the only Filipino-dubbed anime channel. By tweaking their current marketing plan to include prospective demographics that will come from Destiny, in no time, it will help Hero in solidifying their leadership.

We don’t know yet if other pay-TV companies (read: Cignal) will establish themselves once the deal is finally consummated, We don’t even know if and when Hero (and alongside the other ABS-CBN CCPMG Channels) will finally be seen on Destiny’s program lineups, but one thing is for sure.

With the SkyCable buyout of Destiny, Hero is sure bound for its own Destiny under one Sky.

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Editor’s Note: Since this is a deal that is related to a broadcasting and telecommunications entity, SKYcable has to ask the government regulatory body, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), it’s approval. So far, SKYcable had only asked for its approval last tuesday and is still pending.