GMA’s big investment on fantaseryes took its toll on the network’s long-term plans. (Photo credit: GMA Network)
The upcoming requel of ‘Encantadia’ is worth watching, that is, if you’re really a die-hard Kapuso fan.
But while anticipation is high on the new ‘Encantadia’, the broadcasting and financial aspect of GMA leaves a lot to be desired. It’s already 2016, and yet GMA is still way behind its competitors as far as their broadcast standards are concerned.
Much of the blame was due to the numerous big-budget primetime fantaseryes that GMA produced in the mid to late 2000s. With so much money invested on these projects, their ability to spend on updated equipment, facilities and other production and talent matters was compromised in the long term.
From 2004 to 2011, GMA produced big-budget fantaseryes such as ‘Mulawin’, ‘Darna’, the ‘Encantadia’ trilogy, ‘Captain Barbell’ and ‘Dyesebel’, among others. They were able to succeed in the ratings, but the high costs of making these series soon took its toll on GMA.
Looking at how GMA currently stacks up with ABS-CBN and TV5, it is clear that they have a lot of catching up to do. In fact, there were some key factors present on ABS-CBN and TV5 that were absent on GMA, such as:
- An independent sports division (Shakey’s V-League and Manny Pacquiao fights, among others, were co-produced by other outfits)
- Experimental 16:9 HD broadcasts (GMA still airs its programs in 4:3 standard definition, save for recent imported programs and TAPE-produced ‘Princess in the Palace; GMA also lacks an HD channel of its own)
- Sister digital TV channels (ABS-CBN has CineMo and Yey!, while TV5 has Catsup)
- Cable and satellite TV subscription service (ABS-CBN has SkyCable, while TV5 has Cignal)
- Video-on-demand, livestream and digital-exclusive online service (ABS-CBN has iWanTV, while TV5 has News5Everywhere and Digital5)
Factor in the ongoing problems within the Artist Center, GMA’s regional networks, sister station GMA News TV, GMA Films and the public relationship department, and you have a network that is now standing on just one leg. Poor GMA.
It’s a pity to see GMA struggle at almost everything in recent years, and now that they’ll produce a requel of ‘Encantadia’, more problems lie ahead. That said, if GMA continues its ongoing slide, they will be in for a rude awakening.
From the Tube 
GMA is willing to take a risk on the Encantadia remake. We might soon hear a report about GMA entering receivership (Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US terms) if the Encantadia remake didn’t live up to the expectations.
Fantards may not like it, but the truth hurts. GMA is in bad shape. They can’t even compete with ABS and TV5 in spite of their decent ratings. And with their willingness to spend on Encantadia, it only makes things worse.
As of writing this comment their preschool shows on Sunday mornings are beginning to air in HD.
Any idea which shows are you referring to?
I just watched the Tagalized version of Pororo and it is now aired on HD.
Honestly, I desire for GMA to air their self-produced shows in 16:9 format (excluding TAPE programs). Pororo is an imported show if I can remember.
Accdg to sources they are bankrolling whatever extra cash they would receive from political ad placements on encantadia over new equipment for election coverage.
Hence, they’re not really investing on high definition TV and other new technologies, which is what TV5 and ABS are doing right now. So unwise for GMA to do this.
plus the impeding new rules on TV Taping being applied by DOLE to all TV Network will surely hurt GMA. Encantadia might be shortlived or turned into a weekly series.
*tv taping hours
Exactly. With so much restrictions, Encantadia may not even make it past two months with the new eight-hour taping rule. It may take a while before one episode can be finished.
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The best way to do is to shorten 24 Oras from 6:30 to 7:30 then adjust Encantadia at earlier timeslot. At least, they slighty increase their ratings.
Even if they made a slight adjustment, they’ll still lose. Ang Probinsyano is just too strong.
GMA suddenly ripped off “ONCE AGAIN” of JANINE GUTIERREZ and ALJUR ABRENICA, well in fact the chemistry of ALNINE love team is just starting to heat up! It’s so obvious minadali ang ending ng “ONCE AGAIN”! The ALNINE GLOBAL FANDOM was so disappointed! Imagine, ang tagal tagal sinundan ng mga fans, tapos ganun lang pala ang magiging ending! Sa inis ng mga fans, they decided to boycott that “ENGCANTADIA”, and completely turn to fully support the ever successful “ANG PROBINSYANO” of ABS-CBN. Magaling ang director and storyline ng “ANG PROBINSYANO”, napapanahon pa because of the present fight of Pres. Duterte’s admin against drugs! Eh yang “ENGCANTADIA”….fantasy na nga, then mas magagaling pa yung mga lead stars ng unang version! Downhill talaga ang strategy ng GMA! Sayang….
If I were you, better support Born for You of Elmo Magalona and Janella Salvador as well. Baka mas maganda pa ang chemistry nilang dalawa kaysa sa kina Aljur at Janine. And to be honest, dapat sana hindi nagdalawang-isip si Janine na iwan niya rin ang GMA, just for her real-life boyfriend in Elmo, not to mention a more favorable environment for her talents.
Once Again suddenly ended dahil napunta na ang budget ng GMA sa pagproduce ng Encantadia. Look at what happened? Sayang ang investment, even its ratings are no match against Ang Probinsyano. If I were you, huwag kang sumali sa mga boycott boycott na yan.
Exactly. My advice also is to stop watching, kung naiinis ka sa direksyon ng GMA ngayon.
I feel so Pity for GMA7, i once became a Kapuso Fan when I was still in my Highschool Days, but now, they are really in a struggling situation.
They were in much better shape back when they still aired animes on primetime. Now it’s really hopeless, all because of their obsession to defeat ABS and become No. 1.
Gozon killed GMA since 2002. Tumo-throwback pa ang GMA sa kanilang rainbow logo sa FB page ng GMA News, eh mas maganda pa ang GMA noong rainbow pa ang kanilang logo.
Agree. They’re better off when their programming was pretty much different from ABS’. Ang naging problema ni Gozon is his obsession to take GMA to No. 1, and he did so by copying ABS’ programming style, which most certainly backfired.
Dun pala sa HD, I know you wrote this sometime in April, but if you still don’t know, GMA has been shooting its Entertainment (the division) programs in high definition since 2014 (check out Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real on iflix, that was produced in 2014); as of now, i think the exception are Bubble Gang and Sunday Pinasaya, but most of its entertainment and Public Affairs (except Reporter’s Notebook and Alisto, sorry if I missed some) (but not GMA News) programs are now shot in HD. They are only shown in 4:3, doing that so-called “pan and scan” to trim the excess parts of the frame that won’t fit in 4:3, and not show letterboxes. But about the HD channel, that’s true, GMA has no HD channel yet. Sorry, Kapuso here.
Thing is, GMA is still stuck in the past, even with the use of HD cameras. That pan and scan thing hurts the viewing experience, because the other important details are lost with this approach. Encantadia and Alyas Robin Hood are still done in pan-and-scan 4:3 whenever it airs on TV, but highlights on YouTube and full episodes on iFlix are uploaded in its full 16:9 HD glory.
That said, GMA must realize that what they’re doing is not right in this day and age. Many TV sets sold now are flat-screen and not the box-type of decades past, and with HD and digital broadcasts right around the corner, GMA needs to adapt to these technologies.
There are plans for another Mulawin remake next year.
I’d rather see them invest on more important equipment rather than those fantaseryes. It’s clear that they haven’t learned their lessons.
They only create fantaseryes now because they realized that they can’t beat FPJAP using dramas. Maybe the compliments that says “GMA is the best in terms of fantaseryes” lead them to remake encantadia believing that Encantadia is the show that can beat Ang Probinsyano. But so far, it didn’t happen. Remember Direk Mark Reyes already admits that they can’t beat Ang Probinsyano in terms of National Ratings.
Director Mark’s assumptions are true, if you trust Kantar. But GMA did not trust it because they think that AGB Nielsen is better and has the advantage. Unfortunately they were wrong, because they failed to account the rural population, which also has some purchasing power. GMA may claim to be No. 1 according to Nielsen, but not in areas that are as important, such as VisMin and the aforementioned rural areas.
Totoong may problema sa artist center ng GMA,may nabasa nga ako before na pag talent ka ng GMAAC, maliit lang ang makukuha ng artista tapos yung malaking porsyento sa kanila pa mapupunta buti sana if malaki ang kita nila kada project
Most of the GMAAC artists especially the young ones don’t have enough exposure to earn recognition these days, all because of that disparity. It’s a shame, dahil they deserve a lot more than cameo or supporting roles. It is this very reason kung bakit lumipat at sumikat sa Channel 2 sila Cristine Reyes, Jake Cuenca at Arci Munoz, dahil hindi sila nabigyan ng break ng GMA.
correct, palibhasa kasi yung artist ng GMAAC kontento na sa ano mang roles na ibigay sa kanila either support or kung ano pa man magkatrabaho lang. Hirap kasi sa GMAAC kung sino ang bankable sa kanila so far, yun lang yung nakakapagbida sa sariling show. kung tutuusin marami rin naman sanang may potential sa actingan kaso nababalewala sila ng GMA like Paulo Avelino. Si Paulo Avelino mula ng naging kapamilya napapansin siya as an actor, and take note yung teleserye nila ni Maja noon napansin sa Emmys. Even Jake Cuenca rin mula ng naging Kapamilya, dalawang beses naging Best Actor sa international award giving bodies. at Christine Reyes pa yung Eva Fonda niya sa ABS napansin rin sa abroad.
GMA lost a lot of potentially great actors, simply because they don’t know how to take care of them.
GMA doesn’t know the fact that abs is the best, remember when you check the datas about highest rating show of all time either agb mega manila or nutam you will see that Kapamilya show is on the #1 spot, lalo na sa kantar na #1 din ang kapamilya show. Ewan ko lang sa Urban Luzon hahaha.
Let’s face it, AGB Nielsen has a flawed system which emphasizes more on urban areas. That’s why I don’t trust that firm because it’s unfair to the rural areas na may TV rin.
Oo nga eh. May market din sa mga nasa rural areas. GMA even left out Visayas and Mindanao sa kanilang “nationwide” ratings supremacy dahil alam nga nila na talo against ABS-CBN and TV5 sa Visayas at Mindanao. May mga major urban areas doon like Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga, as well as rural areas, and they should be aware of that.
The closure of regional networks in key areas also add to the issue. No wonder GMA is weak in areas that matter as well.
Mahirap rin sa mga kapuso fantards, they dont really understand what NUTAM means. They believe that NUTAM is a Nationwide Rating na ng AGB kesyo may word na Nationwide pero kung iintindihin ang ibig sabihin ng NUTAM na nangangahulugang NATIONAL URBAN TELEVISION AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT, hindi nationwide ang concern nun kundi Urban Areas lang sa buong bansa like Cebu, Davao, Manila, Iloilo
Indeed. Mostly sa mga big cities ang urban. Hence, AGB’s figures are somewhat small in comparison to Kantar.
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