Not Dead Yet: ATC @ IBC Returns from Long Hiatus

Former Swiss ambassador to the Philippines Raoul Imbach will try his hand at hosting on the ATC @ IBC-produced show ‘An Evening with Raoul’. (Photo credit: The Manila Times)

It looks like the ATC @ IBC block is going back to business, sort of.

The Asian Television Content Corporation (via their newly established Facebook page) announced a pair of programs that will air on IBC-13 starting this July. First on the bucket list is a talk show called ‘An Evening with Raoul’, which will air beginning this Saturday at 10:00 p.m.

The Raoul in ‘An Evening to Raoul’ refers to former Swiss ambassador to the Philippines Raoul Imbach, who is also an avid singer. He will bring some special guests who will primarily share with him their common passions.

ATC @ IBC will also air the 2017 Boracay Latin Dance Festival. The tape-delayed event will air on July 22 at 9:00 p.m.

The last time ATC was active on IBC-13 was when it aired games of the PBA D-League, NAASCU and the UCBL between 2015 and mid-2016. Previous to that were a slate of programs that included two telenovelas, some documentary programs and even ONE FC.

Unfortunately, IBC-13’s continuously poor state was too much for ATC to overcome, and the company seem destined to fold. Considering that their website was shut down and their original Facebook page no longer posts new content, liquidation of assets should have been the solution for the beleaguered company.

But with these recent developments, it appears that ATC’s presumptive demise was only premature. Then again, the slow snail-like privatization process of IBC-13 will once again come to play here, and the short-term benefits of ATC’s reentry may not be enough to give the perpetually moribund network a much-needed shot in the arm.

If ATC fails anew, it will not be surprising to see IBC-13 go back to airing unlimited hours’ worth of TV Shop Philippines and EZ Shop plus religious and cockfighting programs. For now, though, enjoy this low-key comeback while it lasts.

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PBA D-League Returns to Sports5

Beginning this season, games of the PBA D-League will air on AksyonTV on a one-day delayed basis. (Logo courtesy of the Philippine Basketball Association)

The PBA D-League will be the property anew of Sports5.

Starting with this season’s Aspirants’ Cup, games of the PBA D-League will air on a delayed basis on AksyonTV. This will mark the return of the PBA’s farm league to Sports5 after a two-year absence.

Last season, PBA D-League games were aired on IBC-13, in collaboration with the Asian Television Content Corporation (ATC). Unfortunately, rising debts forced the ATC @ IBC team to end its coverage after the season.

This year, the league found a willing partner in Sports5. It was perfect timing, since with the parent league’s games no longer simulcast on AksyonTV, it made things easier for the D-League to air their games on the said channel.

Nine teams, some with collegiate varsity tie-ups, will participate in the Aspirants’ Cup. Playing in the PBA D-League is a way for first-timers to join the PBA Rookie Draft, and a way for veterans to earn a PBA contract.

The PBA D-League on AksyonTV will air on most nights of the week. For more information on the league, visit this website.

GMA Shakes Up Weekday Morning Lineup Anew

A teleneovela and a long-overdue Koreanovela makes its way to GMA this Monday morning.

First on the menu is ‘Corazon Indomable’, otherwise known as ‘Wild at Heart’. The telenovela stars Ana Brenda Contreras and Daniel Arenas as lovers with contrasting roots.

‘Corazon Indomable’ first aired in 2013 throughout Mexico, and was a remake of the hit telenovela ‘Marimar’. The latter, first shown on RPN-9 and later re-aired and locally remade on GMA, took Philippine television by storm in the mid-1990s.

The entry of ‘Corazon Indomable’ will mark the latest attempt to rekindle the fading popularity of the telenovela. The genre has endured tremendous amount of abuse from the rightsholder in the last few years, as telenovelas like GMA’s ‘Lola’, ABS-CBN’s ‘Ana Manuela’, and IBC-13/ATC’s ‘The Two Sides of Ana’ and ‘La Teniente’ were either cancelled or shortened for various reasons.

It will be foolish for GMA to once again cut short another telenovela, considering the backlash that they endured upon cancelling ‘Lola’ due to low ratings. If they keep their heads calm, then ‘Corazon Indomable’ will be able to finish in full.

Immediately following ‘Corazon Indomable’ will be the Koreanovela ‘Women in the Sun’. It will star Kim Ji-soo, Lee Ha-na, Han Jae-suk, and Jung Gyu-woon.

‘Women in the Sun’ premieres in Philippine shores nearly seven years after it first aired in its native South Korea. In its original airing, the Koreanovela received an average rating of nearly 14% and won four KBS Drama Awards.

The long gap is uncharacteristic for any Koreanovela in the country, as GMA and ABS-CBN usually air their Koreanovelas within one or two years from its original Korean broadcast. Still, for any devoted follower of Asianovelas, ‘Women in the Sun’ should be worth the wait.

Now the question is, will they have a chance to make an impact against ‘The Singing Bee’? It is highly doubtful, since ‘The Singing Bee’ has had GMA’s number for the past few months, and not even the extended running time of the Astig Authority block can rattle its confidence.

That said, the onus is on GMA to make the two series as good as advertised. This is a make or break situation for them as far as their morning lineup is concerned, so good luck.

‘Corazon Indomable’ and ‘Women in the Sun’ airs starting February 2, right after Astig Authority and before ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.

Note: The trailer for ‘Corazon Indomable’, which is now shown on GMA, is unavailable on YouTube as of this writing.

FTT Year 2014 in Review: Other Networks

Another year is about to end. But before the calendar flips to 2015, here is a look back at the year that was in television and radio. This article will focus on the minor TV networks in the Philippines.

Highlights

A transitional period from the Solar News Channel to CNN Philippines got underway in August. Temporarily known as 9TV, the network was launched on August 23 after Antonio Cabangon-Chua purchased the network from Solar Entertainment’s Wilson Tieng; CNN later signed an agreement with Nine Media Corporation to rename the station as CNN Philippines early next year.

Net 25 also unveiled a new look, featuring a logo inspired from an eagle’s wing (in reference to its parent Eagle Broadcasting Corporation). The station then joined forces with sister station INC-TV 49 to cover the events surrounding the centennial of the Iglesia ni Cristo, including the Grand Evangelical Mission at the Philippine Arena that opened the centennial celebrations.

And finally, UNTV broke ground on the new broadcast center that will open in two years. The groundbreaking ceremony kicked off the station’s 10th anniversary (13th if the rock music format of UNTV were to be included in its history).

Lowlights

In June, IBC-13 and Asian Television Content Corporation joined forces to launch the ATC @ IBC block, featuring a lineup consisting of telenovelas, lifestyle and travel programs, and sports events. Low ratings and loss of revenue caused the block to be cancelled, though ATC later returned to broadcast the PBA Developmental League’s Aspirants Cup on IBC-13 in late October.

Solar Entertainment’s problems continued after the loss of 9TV to the ALC Group. Weeks after the sale of Solar News to Chua’s group was announced, Solar lost another partner in RMN and BEAM Inc. after the latter ceased its affiliation agreement, resulting in the loss of Jack City from free TV 31 in favor of religious programming and O Shopping block.

PTV-4 also made some drastic steps to improve their programming. While ‘Oh Ja Ryong is Coming’ was launched as planned, ‘K-Pop Idol Search – Pinoy Edition’, a partnership between PTV and HBKOR Inc., remains in limbo, as its launch date remains uncertain.

Outlook

The transition to digital television in a few years represents numerous challenges for the minor networks, some of which involve budgetary concerns. Still this is an obstacle that can be overcome, especially now that Philippine television is headed into a new era.

Both the ATC-IBC and PTV-HBKOR deals are at a crossroads, while Nine Media’s new venture as CNN Philippines is about to get underway. This and more as 2015 begins in earnest.

IBC-13: Repeat Offenders of the MTRCB Ratings System

IBC-13’s disregard of the MTRCB’s current ratings guidelines only adds to the network’s ongoing misery. (Logo courtesy of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation)

The Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13), already dubbed as the ‘sick network’, has another problem to deal with.

The said network has become infamous for their inability to completely implement the current television ratings system that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) mandated in 2011. While all other networks have taken advantage of the new approach, IBC-13 has not taken the MTRCB’s ruling seriously.

As of today, September 1, the following current IBC-13 programs have not adopted the MTRCB ratings system:

• The Gospel of the Kingdom (of Sonshine Media Networks International)
• Cooltura
• Tipong Pinoy
• Retro TV
• Tagamend
• Home Shopping Network (9TV’s airing of HSN is currently rated PG)
• EZ Shop

Recently, IBC-13’s rebroadcasts of Ninoy Aquino documentaries also failed to follow the current MTRCB ratings system, when in fact they should have implemented it considering the sensitive subject matter of these documentaries.

Making it worse is the fact that the MTRCB has not reacted in any kind to IBC-13’s defiance of their ratings system. Rather than giving the network numerous warnings with regards to their guidelines, they simply stayed quiet.

It is always the duty of the MTRCB to strictly enforce these classification ratings. All networks must take this current ruling seriously in order to provide a more responsible viewing experience.

But in the case of IBC-13, it is clear that they are not enacting some sort of responsibility to their so-called ‘viewers’ , if there is any, simply because their programming is mediocre.

IBC-13’s blatant disregard of the MTRCB television ratings only adds to the network’s recent reputation as an unreliable, incompetent and disorganized broadcast group. While the addition of the Asian Television Content Corporation (ATC) as a blocktimer saved IBC-13 from further embarrassment, it is still not enough to make the network relevant to viewers.

In the end, more problems than solutions await the embattled management of IBC-13. And once the MTRCB finally decides to act on this matter, things will only get worse for the staff inside Capitol Hills, Diliman.

The Return of the Telenovela to Philippine Free TV

Telenovelas, or the more distinguishable term Latinovelas, are making a comeback to free TV in the Philippines.

The genre, once dominant in the afternoon and evening drama blocks of the major networks, were essentially an endangered species once ‘Meteor Garden’ and other Asianovelas began to invade the small screen. Then in late 2011, the Telenovela Channel was introduced, giving dramas from Latin America a new lease on life.

Since the creation of the Telenovela Channel, several free TV networks have attempted to resuscitate the fading popularity of the telenovela. In 2013, GMA aired the Colombian series ‘Lola’ (or ‘Bella Calamidades’) . Unfortunately for the Kapuso network, low ratings forced the management to stop airing the telenovela before it can be finished.

Also that same year, Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action) aired the original version of the hit ABS-CBN teleserye ‘Nasaan Ka, Elisa?’. Titled ‘Donde Esta Elisa?’, the original series aired during the first half of 2013.

Then in June of this year, IBC-13 and Asian Television Content Corporation aired ‘The Two Sides of Ana’ and ‘La Teniente’ on the ‘ATC @ IBC’ block. Unlike GMA’s unexpected pullout of ‘Lola’, both IBC and ATC were more than willing to finish both series, despite their low ratings in a competitive primetime environment.

Two months later, ABS-CBN decided to bring the telenovela back to their lineup. The Brazilian drama ‘Ana Manuela’, scheduled to air starting August 18, will be the network’s first telenovela since ‘Frijolito’ in 2011.

While ABS-CBN has enjoyed ratings success over the past couple of years, the reintroduction of the telenovela is considered to be their biggest gamble yet. Nevertheless, the network hopes that ‘Ana Manuela’, like the other programs on ‘Kapamilya Gold’, will perform very well in the ratings.

The telenovela, once considered endangered on free TV thanks to Asianovelas, are relevant once again. Now the question is, how long will they remain in the minds of the viewers? Only time will tell.