UPDATE 2-Mexico's Televisa says brunt of $790 million capex for cable, Acapulco
(Changes headline, adds details of capex spending, cost reductions, adds quote in paragraph 9)
By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The capital expenditure budget for Mexico's largest broadcaster Grupo Televisa will reach $790 million this year, with a focus on reconstruction of its fiber optic cable network in hurricane-hit Acapulco, a senior executive said on Friday.
The broadcaster, the world's largest provider of Spanish-language content, sees $630 million in 2024 spending for the company's cable unit, Televisa Co-Chief Executive Alfonso de Angoitia said in a fourth-quarter earnings call.
Another $145 million will go toward the firm's satellite TV unit Sky, with $15 million for corporate purposes.
De Angoitia said Televisa expects insurance payments to fully cover the deployment of its new fiber optic network to homes in Acapulco, which was devastated by Hurricane Otis in October.
The company's capital expenditures (CAPEX) in 2023 totaled about $620 million, which was revised down from the $820 million previously forecast.
On Thursday, Televisa reported a net loss of 8.66 billion pesos ($510.5 million) in the fourth quarter, with revenues dragged down by its Sky unit. Company revenues, meanwhile, fell 3.8% from the same quarter in 2022, reaching 18.41 billion pesos in the October-December period.
Televisa was working on cost reductions "across the board," executives said.
"We have already implemented the bulk of the headcount reduction in December, but we are still seeing opportunities for improvement in that area," De Angoitia said.
Televisa said last year that its staff reduction plan would mean savings of about 12% of payroll starting in the fourth quarter. De Angoitia added that TelevisaUnivison, its firm that combines content with U.S. broadcaster Univision, will cut CAPEX in 2024 to about $125 million, down from $168 million in 2023. (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; additional reporting by Juana Casas; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Jonathan Oatis)
