LISTED broadcast company GMA Network Inc. remains confident it will hit its full-year profit target amid the general drop in industry advertising spending, although it said it may raise ad rates by more than 10 percent.

GMA chairman, president and chief executive officer Felipe Gozon said the company may raise advertising rates next year.

During yesterday’s quarterly income briefing, GMA chief finance officer Felipe S. Yalong said: “We will be able to hit the full-year commitment of P2.8 billion, it will be around 20 percent over what we did last year.”

For the July to September period, the company said its profits slipped 4.25 percent to P788 million from the same period last year as expenses rose 18 percent, mostly through its personnel costs.

The company credited this to a labor contract which tempered its net income for this period.

Meanwhile, the entry of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, through MediaQuest Holdings Inc., into ABC 5, which operates TV5, may change the business dynamics of the local television industry. TV5 ranks third in the Philippine television industry. Pangilinan also bought a majority stake in TV5 programming firm Primedia Inc.

Sought for comment during the briefing, Gozon admitted that this new development will “definitely” have an impact.

 “But as to what it will be, that remains to be seen,” he explained. “We have to see what they will do. How much resources they are going to put in…and I’m talking about talent not only financial resources.”

 “It will probably [be more intense] but right now we are engaged in a very fierce competition with Channel 2 [operated by ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.]. And it will take some time before TV5 can reach that level of Channel 2,” he said.

At present, the company is looking at improved figures already. Gozon said from November 1 to November 5 alone, GMA Channel 7 noted sales worth P767.88 million. He said this will set a precedent from the same period last year when the firm’s flagship channel booked P930 million for the whole month of November.

Meanwhile, despite the drop in third-quarter figures, GMA is reporting higher profits for the first nine months of the year. It said profits in this period jumped to P2.15 billion, from the P1.96 billion in the same period in 2008.

Gross revenues also rose by 7 percent to P10.025 billion. Of this, airtime sales from TV and radio contributed P9.24 billion while subscription fees from international operations and other revenue-generating units made P782 million.

In addition, total operating expenses grew 9 percent to P5.55 billion. With Bloomberg