Another year is about to end. But before the calendar flips to 2016, here is a look back at the year that was in television and radio. This article looks back at the 10 worst moments in Philippine television this year.
GMA Scraps Sunday TV Mass
On January 4, GMA decided to cease its broadcast of the Family TV Mass organized by the Society of Divine Word – Mission Communications Foundation, Inc. (SVD-MCFI), replacing it with the movie block ‘Kapuso Sine Klasika’. The Sunday Mass of SVD-MCFI returned to its old home in IBC-13 a week later.
Poor ratings of the Sunday Mass was among the reasons behind the cancellation. Despite the claims of many that GMA is promoting apathy and not favoring the Catholic religion, they still managed to cover (albeit not as dedicated as other stations) the visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines, as well as produce a religiously-themed teleserye ‘Pari ‘Koy’ starring Dingdong Dantes.
Gone Too Soon for KISPinoy and Misterless Misis
‘KISPinoy’ and ‘Misterless Misis’ aired for only three episodes each during the third quarter of 2015. The former was axed in late July, while the latter received a postponement (or possibly a cancellation) notice the following month.
Both events paved the way for VIVA to take over TV5’s entertainment department, with Vic del Rosario replacing Wilma Galvante.
PBB, It’s Showtime Summoned by MTRCB
‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737’ and ‘It’s Showtime’ were each summoned by the MTRCB for offending viewer sensibilities. The former was for the so-called ‘bromance’ involving teen housemates Bailey May and Kenzo Gutierrez, while the latter was for the alleged ‘pimping’ of ‘Pastillas Girl’ Angelica Yap in the ‘Nasaan Ka Mr. Pastillas’ skit.
Both shows eventually complied by imposing self-regulatory measures, among other rulings. MTRCB also summoned GMA’s ‘The Rich Man’s Daughter’ for strong language inappropriate to viewers.
GMA’s Finances Put Into Question
Despite an increase in revenue, GMA’s financial capabilities were on the hot seat anew this year. The increased revenue was done at the expense of the network’s ‘streamlining’ efforts which featured, among others, the closure of regional networks and programs, and the termination of long-time employees.
Felipe Gozon’s reluctance to sell a part of the network’s shares was also a major issue. Talks between him and Ramon Ang collapsed in August (with the latter later accusing Gozon of estafa), and a few months later, Gozon rejected offers from Chavit Singson and Manny Pacquiao to purchase a part of the network.
Pope Francis, SONA and APEC Coverage Issues
Not all news networks were able to cover the three biggest news events of the year. GMA News TV received major heat for their lack of coverage in both the visit of Pope Francis in the Philippines and the State of the Nation Address, while AksyonTV was criticized for their non-coverage of the APEC Summit.
The two embattled news networks deserved a lot of blame this year. Speaking of AksyonTV,…
AksyonTV’s Identity Crisis Continues
Admit it or not, AksyonTV really needs a makeover. No longer the 24/7 all-Filipino free TV news channel of years past, the network is now increasingly littered with sports coverage, ranging from major leagues like the PSL to more low-scale ones like the PCBL.
Perhaps the time is now for the network to bring back the AKTV name it once used as a blocktimer on IBC-13. After all, AksyonTV’s glory days are behind them.
StarStruck’s Disaster
The return of ‘StarStruck’ proved to be a glorified failure, as ratings and a questionable timeslot doomed the reality show’s sixth season. It was also long overdue, and it would have made a big difference for the network had it been placed opposite ‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737’.
That said, there may never be another season of ‘StarStruck’ after this. So much for hype gone wrong.
Goodbye Showbiz Talk Shows As We Know It
Easter Sunday of this year marked the final episode of the 16-year-old ‘The Buzz’. Seven months later, ‘Startalk’ took a bow as well after 20 years on air.
A change in viewer’s taste was a key reason behind the demise of both shows. Although ‘CelebriTV’ replaced ‘Startalk’, and ABS-CBN planned to revive ‘The Buzz’ in the future, it won’t be easy adapting to a new audience.
CNN Philippines Not Living Up to Expectations
Launched last March 15, CNN Philippines was supposed to be a local version of its parent network. However, a lot of issues surfaced from the beginning.
Whether it’s due to the revolving door of anchors and reporters, an overemphasis on Nancy Grace or the lack of round-the-clock news coverage, it is clear that CNN Philippines is still a work in progress. That said, Nine Media will need to make a lot of changes to ensure that this venture between them and CNN won’t end quickly.
NBA on ABS-CBN Demoted to the Studio
Since February, NBA coverage on ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN Sports+Action has been purely local, handled in-studio by Boom Gonzalez, TJ Manotoc, Ronnie Magsanoc and Benjie Paras. But to the surprise of many, only Manotoc traveled to the United States to cover the NBA Finals, and ABS-CBN opted to call the games in-studio rather than on location.
Delayed broadcast of the NBA games were a primary reason behind ABS-CBN’s questionable decision. Still, with digitization looming, and the migration to HD underway, it seems like this is a more logical solution for the network to save costs.
In tomorrow’s year-end special, From the Tube will look back at the 10 best moments in Philippine television this 2015.
From the Tube 
How about you do a year-ender of FM radio or you gonna passed this one to sir MC (Capulong)?
If MC does it, I’ll just reblog it.
Here’s another one from JRDV:
https://jrdvworld.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/jrdvs-world-year-in-review-ph-radio/
Nice, with added discussion on provincial stations.
Here is from MC.
https://coolmac.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/prr-2015-philippine-radio-in-review/
There are rumors that Sports5 will revive AKTV on IBC with the help of Viva as blocktimer. Viva is set to launch several new teleseryes on TV5 in 2016 like Panday with Richard Gutierrez and Tasya Fantasya.
It might be better if they rebrand AksyonTV as AKTV instead and relaunch it as a sports-centric channel, then create a new News5 Network exclusively for Cignal subscribers. TV5 has no intention of venturing into blocktime programming after the disastrous AKTV on IBC relationship, and with Channel 41, this could be a long-term solution.
Good suggestion. Jove Francisco left News5 and produced the ABS-CBN News Yearender that was aired last Sunday so it’s time for Aksyon TV to perhaps move to 13 and shut down 41.
No chance of them moving back to 13. Sorry, but they’d rather stay on 41 and make some improvements there instead.
And with Viva now taking over TV5, Misterless Misis is as good as dead. Same with showbiz talk shows. With Banana Sundae, bringing back The Buzz is remote.
I’m starting to like what Viva is doing with TV5, they will not rely of their big stars just to gain some momentum. Ayaw na nila na ma- Sharon Cuneta at malaos pa. Instead, they will used their other contract stars under their portfolio and at least give them exposure. And beside from their drama offerings, MTV Pinoy will enter free tv for the first time in a long time since then MTV Philippines aired on IBC 13 almost a decade ago.
Correction: MTV used to air on Channel 41 which is now AksyonTV. It’s either on TV5 or Channel 41, but if they have the chance to go back to Channel 41, they need to rebrand that channel first, because AksyonTV sounds useless now that they’re less into news.
Anyway, this is an opportunity for Viva to breathe new life into TV5. This should be interesting.
Viva is set to introduce new teleseryes for TV5. I wonder how this will affect the PBA TV coverage.
We’ll have to wait and see. The only free slots right now are the Wattpad and Amachan/Hallo Hallo Cafe replays from 9:30 on (Movie Max 5 not counted). It’s up to them to figure it out.
They will just air MTV Pinoy’s Top 20 Countdown (Pilipinas) on TV5. And about MTV Philippines on IBC it is only a one hour hook-up from MTV PH Ch. 41.
In essence, Viva has no plan of putting MTV back to Channel 41 on a blocktime basis. Sayang, it would’ve been useful on AksyonTV if ever they rebrand into a new channel.
May Cignal na sila so they don’t need to go back on ch 41 anytime soon. And Viva Entertainment is only there as content provider for the Entertainment Department, not as minority onwer of TV5 Network Inc. at ayaw nilana magkaroon ng conflict of interest lalo na yun mga ibang Viva artist are working in other stations most notably ABS-CBN.
You have a point. Viva technically is not a blocktimer nor a minority owner. They’re just here to help.
to add it up to what you said, this is also a proving ground for other young Viva artists to show that they have star potential and to prove that Viva can create new rising stars which can be relied on. But their artists are still Freelancers and can do any project with other networks.
Indeed. Rise, thrive and shine will be their mantra this year.
Your right and there are a few Viva Artists who are waiting for their time to shine and hopefully their exposure on TV5 can really help them show what they have trained and practice on during their workshops with Viva.
Indeed.
At least, the Viva stars will make up for the departure of some TV5 stars. Valeen Montenegro has moved to GMA already.
There will still be some freelancers in the new initiative though.