New Name for Lifestyle, Plus Toonami Gets the Ax

Lifestyle (Network) has a new name.

On April 2, 2018, Lifestyle was renamed and rebranded as the Metro Channel. Named after the high-end lifestyle magazine of the same name, Metro Channel will feature almost the same content as its predecessor, with a focus on food, fashion and travel programs.

Some of the programs that will air on Metro Channel include locally-produced shows such as ‘The Crawl’, ‘Casa Daza’, ‘At the Table’, ‘G Diaries’ and ‘Pia’s Postcards’. It will also feature foreign canned programs such as ‘Masterchef’, ‘America’s Next Top Model’ and ‘The Great British Bakeoff’.

Operated by ABS-CBN affiliate Creative Programs Inc., Metro Channel was originally launched on July 24, 1999 as the Lifestyle Network. It was later rebranded as ‘Lifestyle’ in 2015 with increased emphasis towards programs concerning food, fashion and travel.

Metro Channel will continue to air on SkyCable channel 52 and on high definition channel 174. It is also available on SkyDirect channel 31 and on select cable operators in the Philippines.

Easter weekend also saw the demise of Toonami, a cable channel operated by Turner Broadcasting. After nearly six years on the air, Toonami was officially shut down on March 31, 2018.

A sister channel of Cartoon Network and Boomerang, Toonami was known to air a selection of anime and American action cartoon series. Among the notable programs that were aired on Toonami include ‘Batman’, ‘Teen Titans’, ‘Ben 10’, ‘Inazuma Eleven Go’, ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’, ‘Yo-Kai Watch’ and ‘Dragon Ball Z’.

The shutdown of Toonami had huge repercussions to Filipino anime fans who still mourn the loss of local anime channel Hero. At the time it was taken off the air, Toonami was broadcasting the ongoing ‘Dragon Ball Super’ series which has yet to be launched on Filipino free TV.

It remains to be seen if Cartoon Network will be able to revive the Toonami primetime block to accommodate its displaced programs. But for anime fans who are looking for other ways to watch their favorite programs, there are other options such as cable channels Animax and AniPlus, as well as anime streaming websites.

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GMA Has Virtually Every Dragon Ball Movie Except One; Race for DB Super is On

The ‘Dragon Ball’ franchise has long been associated with GMA since the mid-1990s.

From the first ‘Dragon Ball’ anime to ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and then ‘Dragon Ball GT’, GMA has aired them all. Even the remastered version of ‘Z’ called ‘Dragon Ball Z Kai’ has also been aired on the Kapuso network.

Just recently, movies of the ‘Dragon Ball’ franchise were being aired on GMA every weekend mornings. Titled ‘Dragon Ball Fight Presents’, it features a 45-minute DB film that is aired in two parts (23 minutes each), with the exception of the 70-minute ‘Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan’ (aka ‘The Burning Battle’ in the teasers) which aired for four parts.

While GMA has the rights to most of the older DB movies, it was ABS-CBN who ended up with the most recent one (not including ‘Resurrection: F’, which is yet to be released). Earlier this year, ABS-CBN managed to acquire the rights to the ‘Battle of Gods’ film, and aired it on Channel 2 and Hero during the month of January.

Yesterday morning, ABS-CBN re-aired ‘Battle of Gods’ (teaser video above), hours after GMA aired the second part of ‘Bio-Broly’ (known as ‘Attack the Super Warrior’ in the teasers). Talk about doing a favor.

By all means necessary, the rights to ‘Dragon Ball’ are now being disputed by the two network giants. And as the franchise entered its third decade, a new series in on the horizon.

Starting July 5 in Japan, a new ‘Dragon Ball’ anime will be released, entitled ‘Dragon Ball Super’. The new anime is expected to arrive soon in the Philippines, but it remains uncertain as to who will air the new series.

Of course, it will go down to the two heated rivals in the television industry. GMA may have long been associated with the DB franchise, but ABS-CBN is also looking to give a new spin to the popular anime series.

That said, the fans of Goku and the gang will have to wait. This is definitely an exciting time for the Filipino anime community, as one of the most iconic animes in the world will have a new adaptation coming soon.