‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’ Premieres, Plus TV5’s Revamped Schedule

‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’ premiered last Monday, leading to some changes in TV5’s programming lineup. (Photo credit: TV5 via Interaksyon.com)

A brand new weekday showbiz talk show paved the way for a revamped programming lineup on TV5.

The new show in question, ‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’, premiered last Monday morning. The show is hosted by IC Mendoza, Bianca King and MJ Marfori, and covers the latest showbiz news in a more interactive and upbeat manner through the use of social media.

With ‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’ making its debut, TV5 decided to make some changes to their programming lineup. The new weekday lineup is as follows:

5:00 am – Aksyon sa Umaga
6:30 am – Higglytown Heroes
7:30 am – Doc McStuffins
8:00 am – Teacher’s Pet
8:30 am – Hi-5
9:00 am – Transformers: Animated
9:30 am – Rockman.Exe Beast
10:00 am – Happy Wife, Happy Life
10:30 am – Healing Galing sa TV5 (M & F)/Solved na Solved (T-TH)
11:00 am – Showbiz Konek na Konek
11:30 am – Aksyon sa Tanghali
12:00 pm – Movie Max 5 (x2)
3:45 pm – Hi-5
4:15 pm – PSL/PBA/Movie Max 5
6:15 pm – Aksyon
7:00 pm – PBA/Movie Max 5
9:00 pm – Wattpad Presents
9:30 pm – The Vampire Diaries (last day tonight)/Supernatural (starting tomorrow)
10:15 pm – Extreme Series
10:45 pm – Aksyon Tonite
11:15 pm – ReAksyon
11:30 pm – KBO block reruns
12:00 am – Shop Japan

Programs written in bold were the ones whose schedules changed from last week.

Notice the absence of ‘T3: Enforced’ on the weekday lineup? It turns out that the Tulfo brothers’ public service program will now compete against ABS-CBN’s ‘Failon Ngayon’ and GMA’s ‘Imbestigador’ starting this Saturday at 4:30 p.m, and is expected to morph into an investigative documentary in the mold of prior Tulfo brothers’ programs.

As for the rest of Saturday’s lineup, here they are as follows:

4:30 am – Shop Japan
5:30 am – Family Matters
6:30 am – Kakaibang Lunas
7:00 am – Kim Possible
7:30 am – Little Einsteins
8:00 am – Powerpuff Girls
8:30 am – Ben 10 Omniverse
9:00 am – Magical Doremi
9:30 am – Sword Art Online
10:00 am – Fushigi Yuugi
10:30 am – Street Fighter
11:00 am – Movie Max 5 (x2)
2:00 pm – YHTube
2:30 pm – PSL/Movie Max 5
4:30 pm – T3: Enforced
5:00 pm – PBA/Movie Max 5
7:00 pm – Tropa Mo Ko Unli Spoof
8:00 pm – 2 1/2 Daddies
9:00 pm – Everybody Hapi
10:00 pm – Rising Stars
11:00 pm – Kaya/Yaman ng Bayan
12:00 am – Shop Japan

TV5’s Sunday lineup will remain unchanged. However, as part of a shared agreement with ABS-CBN, GMA and Solar Sports in the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, TV5 will air a weekly special showcasing the best fights of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at 12:30 p.m., leading up to the main bout on May 3.

As for ‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’, its entry was timely, as ABS-CBN’s ‘The Buzz’ went on hiatus the day before. Viewers can only hope that ‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’ will fill the void and attract younger and more socially conscious individuals with its fresh and upbeat approach.

‘Showbiz Konek na Konek’ airs weekdays at 11:00 a.m. on TV5.

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The Other Pinoy Pride

Two simultaneous boxing events featuring rising Filipino boxers Johnriel Casimero, Genesis Servania and Arthur Villanueva will be aired this weekend. ABS-CBN and ALA Promotions’ successful ‘Pinoy Pride’ series will have its 22nd installment featuring Servania against Panamanian boxer Rafael Concepcion for the WBO Intercontinental Super Bantamweight Championship, and Villanueva against Mexican Jose Cabrera for the WBO International Super Flyweight Championship. And over at GMA, its ‘Laban ng Lahi’ series will pit Casimero against Mexican Felipe Salgueiro for the IBF Junior Flyweight Championship. ‘Laban ng Lahi’ airs tonight after ‘Celebrity Bluff’, while ‘Pinoy Pride’ airs tomorrow morning after ‘Matanglawin’.

While the Pinoy Pride series has become well-known for promoting young and up-and-coming talent from the ALA stable, it has been a different story for GMA’s ‘Laban ng Lahi’ series. Despite sharing the same aspect of promoting young boxing sensations, GMA produces the series on an independent basis, and through a variety of promoters. Some of the Filipino boxers who have fought in the series include Casimero, Donnie Nietes, Denver Cuello, Dodie Boy Penalosa, Brian Viloria, Marvin Sonsona and female boxer Ana Julaton.

Some of the fights featured on the series have also been re-aired on the ‘All Sports’ program on GMA News TV, which contrary to its name, has been mostly synonymous with airing boxing matches. In addition, some of the aforementioned boxers have also been profiled in another GNTV program, ‘Sports Pilipinas’.

Even though the ‘Laban ng Lahi’ series has been decently successful in its own right, it has suffered from a lack of promotion, sporadic television appearances, and a lack of available talent. The series has also been overshadowed by GMA’s promotion of bouts featuring more well-known boxers such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Timothy Bradley, and Manny Pacquiao. In contrast, ‘Pinoy Pride’ on ABS-CBN has maintained stability over the years because of the ALA Promotions’ positive track record to training and planning the careers of their talents, in addition to aggressive promotional tactics. Some of the ALA talents went on to achieve international success after their appearances on ‘Pinoy Pride’.

The ‘Laban ng Lahi’ series may be considered GMA’s answer to ‘Pinoy Pride’, but unless they can find a stable with the same vision as ALA’s, their own series is considered an afterthought in the pro boxing scene.

Another Mayweather Blunder within GMA; UAAP Cheerdance

Another Floyd Mayweather fight, another blunder by the Kapuso network. For the past few days the GMA Network has been promoting the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez fight on its television and radio commercials with much hype. Unfortunately, the airing of the bout wasn’t quite what boxing fans expected.

The Kapuso network decided to air the bout only after their Sunday variety show ‘Sunday All Stars’ (around 2:00 p.m.), airtime uncharacteristic for a boxing card aired in the Philippines. By tradition, 10 a.m. is usually the airtime reserved for boxing matches, whether major or minor cards; ABS-CBN’s ‘Pinoy Pride’ series is an example. However GMA did not want to sacrifice airtime, so they placed the ‘Kapuso Movie Festival‘ block instead, after which they proceeded to ‘Sunday All Stars’, which unlike its ABS-CBN counterpart ‘ASAP‘, usually airs on a taped basis. As far as the 2:00 p.m. airtime is concerned, GMA shunned away from airing undercards and focused on the main match instead.

Unlike before when GMA shared broadcast rights with Solar Sports for Mayweather bouts, the Mayweather-Alvarez fight will only be seen solely on the GMA Network; another good sign that the network is trying to establish its own sports division. I have written about GMA’s lack of a sports division in the past, especially considering that its counterparts in ABS-CBN and TV5 have been able to establish their own sports divisions by inking airtime contracts with various professional, collegiate and amateur leagues in the country. However, with the Mayweather-Alvarez fight, GMA is now looking to make a name for itself in terms of covering a variety of sports events, which may eventually lead to a new ‘GMA Sports’ division in the near future. Perhaps adding the PBA to its coverage may legitimize its claim as a sports broadcasting power.

Meanwhile, HD subscribers at SkyCable can avail of the live broadcast of the fight for free via SkyCable channel 195. Unfortunately, with a majority still without HD digiboxes, they can only depend on internet live-streaming for the comprehensive live coverage of the event; otherwise either tune in to GMA’s delayed broadcast or go through various social media outlets for the blow-by-blow coverage.

At around the same time as GMA’s delayed broadcast of the Mayweather-Alvarez fight is the much-anticipated UAAP Cheerdance Competition. The event, to be aired on Studio 23 and Balls 167 HD beginning at 1:30 p.m., will again feature cheering squads of the eight participating universities, led by defending champion UP Pep Squad. The hype surrounding the event has been so significant that every seat at the Mall of Asia Arena has been sold out, and they plan to sell a few standing room only tickets to waiting patrons.

As with every UAAP Cheerdance Competition, the assigned courtside reporters will be dressed in the pep squad attire of their respective universities. Prize money, gifts and awards will be given to the three podium finishers and to the most stunning female member of the pep squad (the Stunner award). Judges from various cheerleading organizations will be present to evaluate every move of each cheering squad, whose routines usually last ten minutes. And there will also be a Group Stunts Competition for select cheering squads, which will likewise merit prize money, gifts and awards for the podium finishers.

Expect the event to trend via social media, and with so much hype surrounding the Cheerdance Competition, the event will likewise be a highly-anticipated television spectacle.

The PBA Needs GMA More Than Ever

The only way the PBA can salvage its television coverage is if it airs on GMA (particularly GMA News TV). But that may only be done once the TV5 contract either expires or is bought out.

This was not a far-fetched idea, but I think the PBA should air its games on GMA in the foreseeable future. In the wake of the issues regarding its television coverage on TV5, the possibility of PBA games on the Kapuso network (or at least its sister network GMA News TV) is as close as it can get.

This was in line with commissioner Chito Salud‘s statement that they will not allow a UHF network to air a PBA game again. There are seven VHF television networks in the country today. Of the seven, only ABS-CBN, TV5 and GMA has a wider reach. However, all three networks have a loaded primetime lineup, forcing the PBA to look elsewhere. In the past, they have aired games on PTV-4, RPN-9 and IBC-13, all three of which were owned by the government. However, neither has the reach nor the technology that the three major networks can offer. While TV5 aired PBA games before (during the ABC-5 era), at the time they were still an ‘alternative’ network, which unlike today’s TV5 is a bit less mainstream than those offered by ABS-CBN and GMA 7.

So why the PBA needs to have its games aired on GMA? First, GMA has two VHF television channels: GMA 7 and GMA News TV 11. Because the former has a loaded programming lineup, the games will likely be seen on the latter, whose offerings were news and public service programs, if nothing else. GMA News TV’s more flexible lineup will make it easier for the PBA to put its games on that network. Second, GMA badly needs sports programming. As written on a previous post, GMA’s only known coverage of live sports were Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. boxing matches, which were infrequent compared to basketball coverage. By inking a contract with the PBA, the GMA Sports division will be legitimized and at par with ABS-CBN and TV5’s sports divisions. And finally, GMA has a wider reach, clearer signal, and the technological resources, keys in which it would help raise the overall viewing audience.

At the moment the PBA and TV5 continue to debate over the coverage of the upcoming Governors’ Cup. If this debate drags on for a few more weeks, audience interest over the PBA may wane over this issue. Look at how ABS-CBN has done to the UAAP; interest over the league rose since it took over the broadcast of the games in 2000. That was sustained growth and progress; unlike the PBA, where despite the resurgence of in-game attendance, it continues to suffer in television viewing audience through five different channels. What the PBA needs is a major network deal with GMA, and barring any major issues in television coverage, the Kapuso network and the PBA may be together for a longer period of time. But not now, perhaps in the foreseeable future.

Why GMA 7 Lacks a Sports Division?

 

GMA 7 is way behind its competitors in producing high-end sports programming. The Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero fight co-produced with Solar Sports doesn’t help its cause. (Screenshot courtesy of GMA Network)

 

For the past few days GMA 7 has been airing program advisories regarding the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero fight for Sunday. The fight, according to the 30-second teaser, is a co-production of GMA 7 and Solar Entertainment. In a truest sense, GMA 7 did not promote the fight by themselves, but rather through a long-term co-production agreement with Solar that included the Manny Pacquiao fights.

The truth is, there is no such thing as ‘GMA Sports’ or a ‘GMA Sports Division’ for any matter. They were there just to collaborate instead of going solo. In fact, in terms of promoting sports programming, GMA 7 is way behind its competitors ABS-CBN and TV5. Currently ABS-CBN Sports produces the NBA games, the UAAP, Top Rank and ALA boxing, and soccer events such as the Philippine Azkals and UEFA Champions League. In addition, its sports cable network Balls currently air Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts and various other sports such as golf and tennis. Sports5 produces the PBA games, the NCAA, the PXC, the Smart Gilas team events, and the United Football League, with its cable sports network Hyper airing various other sports events. And GMA 7? Aside from the Pacquiao and Mayweather fights, their only known brand of sports programming is the Shakey’s V-League, currently airing on sister network GMA News TV, as well as its two Sunday programs Sports Pilipinas and All-Sports; the latter contrary to its name airs mostly boxing bouts.

Back in the 1980s, when the Philippines was still recovering from the Ferdinand Marcos regime, GMA 7 was known to air the NBA and NFL games on a delayed basis. During the mid-1990s, their defunct UHF channel Citynet 27 aired NBA games on weekends. At the time, GMA 7 was the network of choice for sports aficionados, with the exception of PBA games aired on PTV-4 and later IBC-13.

Then came ABS-CBN and Studio 23, who started the ABS-CBN Sports Division by founding the defunct MBA, a professional sports league different from the PBA in terms of regional teams and nationwide reach. After the MBA folded, they acquired the rights to air the UAAP, which they still have today. From that point, ABS-CBN Sports grew and prospered, bolstered by the popularity of the UAAP, the Philippine Azkals, and the sport of boxing. In 2008, Balls Channel was established, and acquired the rights to air UFC events a few months later.

Not to be outdone, TV5 started to make a serious bid towards establishing their own sports department. Back when they were ABC-5, they acquired the rights to air PBA games in 2004, and continued to air its games until 2008. After a three-year rebuilding program where the network was acquired by Manny Pangilinan and renamed TV5, the network’s sports arm was reestablished as Sports5. They reacquired the rights for PBA games from Solar Entertainment in 2011, and then added the UFL. They then acquired the rights to air the NCAA from ABS-CBN in June 2012. Also that year, their cable sports network Hyper started airing, and made its grand introduction with the blow-by-blow coverage of the London Olympics. Even though the AKTV block on IBC-13 is about to end in May 2013, Sports5 remains committed to the PBA and is looking to air its games on TV5 soon.

With its competitors establishing their own sports arm, GMA 7 tried in vain to put up a bid for the airing of  various sports leagues such as the PBA and UAAP. Unfortunately the lack of a serious bidder and revenue issues hurt GMA 7. So where did they go? They decided to focus on the ‘Pambansang Kamao‘, Manny Pacquiao. Through a co-production agreement with Solar Sports, the network began to air delayed and commercial-infested coverage of Pacquiao fights in 2007, and continues to do so today. They even went as far as signing Pacquiao as a talent and gave him programs such as ‘Manny Many Prizes’ and ‘Show Me Da Manny’. Unfortunately, GMA’s decision came back to haunt PacMan, as he lost via knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez in his recent fight. And aside from that, nothing else came from the mouths of GMA management.

So where does GMA 7 go in terms of sports development? As of now, their only known sports programming are Manny Pacquiao fights, the Shakey’s V-League, and its Sports Pilipinas and All-Sports programs on News TV. They are way behind the competition in terms of developing and promoting future athletes. They are too focused towards spending lavishly on their teleseryes and films, along with crafting new programs in desperation against their rivals’ more popular counterparts. Unless they are serious in putting up a bid to air a particular league or promotion in the near future, GMA 7 will always be at the bottom of the pack in terms of bringing quality sports programming to the Filipino.