Manila – ABS-CBN’s airtime revenues for the first two months of the year declined by almost double-digits due to the slowdown in advertisements, as clients tightened their belts because of the crisis. At a press briefing for the firm’s 2008 financial and operating results, chief finance officer Rolando Valdueza said that the decline in airtime revenues for January and February this year should not be taken as an indication of what is in store for the remaining months, and added that ABS-CBN has implemented a moratorium on its advertising rates until July. The company did however manage to post a 9 percent rise in net profit for 2008 from P1.27 billion in 2007 to P1.38 billion last year. This, as consolidated revenues rose 12 percent to P22.3 billion. Sixty percent of the consolidated revenues were delivered by airtime revenues, while the 40 percent balance came from direct sales. Cable TV operator SkyCable also began contributing to the group in 2008. It delivered P92 million in airtime revenues between April and December 2008, bringing consolidated airtime revenues to P13.5 billion. ABS-CBN’s direct sales, on the other hand, reached P8.8 billion with a P2.58-billion contribution from SkyCable. The company has allocated P2.5 billion for capital expenditure this year, the bulk of this will go toward the planned upgrade of signal and transmission equipment in the suburbs and in Metro Manila.