TV5 Continues its Rebuild

The painful rebuilding process continues for TV5, in an effort to earn a sizable audience.

Over half a year ago, TV5 established its ‘Weekend Do It Better’, ‘Karunungan, Balita at Opinyon’, and ‘Everyday All the Way’ blocks. However, as the calendar flipped to 2014, these programming blocks were deemphasized and it appears TV5 is not satisfied with how they turned out.

Through the first four months, TV5 gradually brought in new programs as part of its continuous restructuring process, which also included a relocation away from its old Novaliches headquarters in favor of the newly-opened TV5 Media Center in Mandaluyong. The adjustment to a new location was difficult though, as the staff attempted to learn new digital-based methods in producing its programs.

In the news department came in Saturday night public affairs series ‘Kaya’ and ‘Yaman ng Bayan’, and the Thursday night program ‘Bigtime’. On the other hand, ‘Good Morning Club’ once again claimed its position as the only morning news program with a running time of under two hours, when management decided to cancel the ‘Good Morning Girls’ and ‘Good Morning MamuTin’ segments (which were taped as opposed to live broadcast on other programs), and renamed ‘GMC’ as ‘Good Morning Ser’.

In terms of entertainment, TV5 replaced ‘Madam Chairman’ with ‘Confessions of a Torpe’, while introducing another ‘tawaserye’ in ‘Beki Boxer’. On the other side of the spectrum, ‘Celebrity Dance Battle’ essentially replaced ‘Killer Karaoke Pinoy Naman’, though the latter program remained on air until April, when it was finally cancelled in favor of the sitcom ‘One of the Boys’.

And finally, TV5 partially satisfied basketball fans by airing live PBA games almost every day in primetime, including an increase of Saturday broadcasts to two games. But with the network’s broadcast of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics (and potentially the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup) a few months away, it is expected that more adjustments will be made in terms of accommodating the network’s sports coverage.

That said, TV5 should not stand pat and continue improving its lineup for the long term. It is a difficult and painful process, but when done right, the network’s fortunes should pay off.

Now what to do with AksyonTV? The question will be answered in another article.

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Radyo5 Still Preferred Over DZMM, DZBB On the Road

Radyo5 92.3 News FM remains the leading all-news station for drivers in Metro Manila.

Four years ago, TV5 made a daring decision to launch Radyo5 92.3 News FM, the first all-news radio station on the FM band. They even made a catchphrase to promote the move, telling listeners to leave the old and distorted sounds of the AM band (“Iwanan mo na ang lumang tunog ng AM”).  This year, Radyo5’s reputation continues to grow, even as it remains the only such station on the FM band.

The PSRC Car Coincidental Survey recently ranked Radyo5 as the most preferred all-news radio station among Metro Manila motorists in 2013, ahead of traditional AM radio rivals DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 and Super Radyo DZBB 594. While it is unfair to compare Radyo5 to the AM stations of ABS-CBN and GMA due to its difference in modulation, the fact that more and more drivers are shifting to Radyo5 for its clearer sound and lack of distortion compared to its AM contemporaries only justified its No. 1 ranking.

This past year, Radyo5 welcomed Ben Tulfo and Orly Mercado to its stable of hosts. Ben, who along with brothers Erwin and Raffy host ‘T3: Reload’ on TV5, brought his ‘Bitag Live’ program to the station, while Orly returned to the broadcast booth via ‘Orly Mercado: All Ready’. In addition, the station moved from the old Novaliches studios to the TV5 Media Center in Mandaluyong, just in time to welcome 2014.

All told, 2014 is shaping up to be an even better year for Radyo5, especially now that they have upgraded their facilities and relocated to the virtual center of Metro Manila. And with the drivers continuing to prefer Radyo5 over its AM counterparts, expect the station to once again top the motorists’ surveys.

The End of Sports5 Center?

Sports5 Center was shelved during this year’s PBA Philippine Cup Semifinals in favor of ‘Money Ball: Dribol Op Da Pipol’, as mounting costs loom.

Last week, TV5 introduced the ‘Money Ball: Dribol Op Da Pipol’ trivia game at every halftime of PBA games. However, the debut of the Android-based game also led to the ‘cancellation’ of the analysis segment ‘Sports5 Center’, which despite its entertaining and loose nature, has proven costly to Sports5’s production.

One of the first acts of Sports5 upon its reacquisition of PBA coverage in 2011 was to create a more entertaining pregame, halftime and postgame segment that was initially titled as ‘AKTV Center’. Here, the studio host and analyst(s) interact with various guests (namely current and former PBA players, and occasionally showbiz personalities) in discussing the games in general, with showbiz-related topics thrown on occasion. It also allows the viewers to interact with the hosts via social media through a question posted prior to each game.

Originally, ‘AKTV Center’ aired during most game days, except during provincial and non-Wednesday, Friday and Sunday matches, and was produced at the TV5 studios in Novaliches and at the game venues during the Finals. However, when TV5 decided not to renew its blocktime deal with IBC-13 nearly two years later, the segment was renamed as ‘Sports5 Center’, and was aired only on select games at the venues, before reducing it to only Sundays and eventually eschewing it in favor of ‘Money Ball’.

The ‘cancellation’ of ‘Sports5 Center’ hurts a lot. Why? Because this was the first time that the PBA experimented with a pregame, halftime and postgame show, similar to what the NBA’s national broadcasters are doing these days.  ‘Sports5 Center’ is essentially part-educational and part-entertainment, in a way that it has become very similar to ‘Inside the NBA’. But with TV5 still trying to solve its programming dilemma in hopes of airing all PBA games at its main outlet, and with the logistical consequences of setting up a temporary studio at the game venues, it appears that these segments will be out of the picture for the foreseeable future.

For now, there is no such thing as a halftime report in the PBA. In that case, good luck with the not-so entertaining halftime show known as ‘Money Ball: Dribol Op Da Pipol’.