GNP on Ayala Avenue ticker-tape billboard

Good News for GoodNewsPilipinas.com. Content from the website will be featured daily on a brand new electronic ticker-tape billboard in the Makati financial district starting in May.

It will be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

The P45-million device, called the PSE-Insular Life Electronic Display Board, will wrap itself around the facade of the Insular Life building at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas.

It will occupy the same spot that once held the huge concrete-and-metal relief sculpture created by National Artist Napolen V. Abueva that has since been moved to the insurance firm's new offices in Muntinlupa.

Philippine Stock Exchange president and CEO Francis Lim said the electronic billboard would allow motorists and pedestrians to receive stock market information and news even while on the go.

There will be one difference though in the delivery of the news.

The electronic billboard will carry only positive news about the Philippines, according to Valentin Muñoz, general manager of Globaltronics, the company that will operate the 30-meter by 1.5-meter light-emitting diode (LED) screen.

He said the electronic screen — which could be seen and read from several hundreds of meters away, whether at night or under the noonday sun — would broadcast “only news that make people feel good about the opportunities” locally, on top of the latest stock market prices.

“There will be no stories about crime, for example,” Muñoz said.

He said the company already engaged the services of the online service “Good News Pilipinas” to provide news content.

It is not clear if the electronic billboard will also carry political news, which can often sway stock market players into buying or selling frenzies.

But Lim said it would also carry negative business news if relevant to the market.

“For example, we will show if the country misses its GDP (gross domestic product) growth target,” he said.

Aside from stock market prices and news, the billboard will also display traffic advisories, weather reports and other public service announcements.

The display will operate from 6 a.m. to midnight. It has the ability to adjust its brightness to compensate for bright sunlight or to prevent distracting motorists at night.

Lim thanked the Makati Commercial Estate Association Inc. (Macea) for consenting to the electronic display. The Macea previously banned all forms of billboards and advertising along Ayala Avenue.