Martinez Documentary, New ‘Kaya’ on TV5 and Other News

The Olympic journey of Michael Christian Martinez will be featured in the documentary ‘Hero on Ice’ tonight on TV5.

Tonight after ‘Aksyon Weekend’, TV5 will air a special 30-minute documentary called ‘Hero on Ice’. The documentary will focus on Michael Christian Martinez’s life, career, and journey that took him from the small SM rinks to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Along the way, viewers will be treated to an all-access look at Martinez’s trip to Sochi and his preparations for the event. Interviews with family and friends, as well as highlights of his Winter Olympics ice skating routines will also be featured.

As a bonus treat to viewers, the documentary will also look back at Martinez’s triumphant homecoming, followed by the press conference and a skating exhibition at the Mall of Asia rink. ‘Hero on Ice’ is hosted by Chiqui Roa-Puno, and will pre-empt ‘Magic Gimik Revealed’ in its timeslot.

Also on TV5, the documentary series ‘Kaya’ returns with a brand new episode, after giving way to ‘Yaman ng Bayan’ last week. In this episode entitled ‘Tindog’, DJ Sta. Ana will take a look at the rebuilding of Tacloban following its destruction from Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). The series airs after ‘Juan Direction’.

With regards to ‘SpinNation’ which is currently airing on repeats, the second season premiere of the program is currently being delayed by Jasmine Curtis-Smith’s taping schedule for her upcoming self-titled suspense/drama series ‘JasMINE’. The series is scheduled to begin this March 25 at 8 p.m., and will also star the likes of Alwyn Uytingco, Matt Padilla, and Vin Abrenica. Along with the weeknight comedy/drama series ‘Confessions of a Torpe’, the two series will highlight another busy month for the Kapatid network, which will also include the PBA Commissioner’s Cup and the US NCAA March Madness.

Speaking of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the conference begins on March 5, a week after the end of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals. But contrary to what Commissioner Chito Salud had assured, and despite the recent high ratings of the recently concluded Philippine Cup playoffs, the airing schedule from the Philippine Cup eliminations will continue in the upcoming conference, with only the second game of the weekday doubleheaders, first game of Saturday doubleheaders, and both games of Sunday doubleheaders airing live on TV5. However all of the games will be shown live on AksyonTV.

And finally, the US NCAA March Madness will begin in mid-March, and like the preceding Winter Olympics, coverage of the games will be shared by TV5, AksyonTV, Hyper and Cignal HD. With that, good luck to TV5 and its affiliate stations on a busy month to come.

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TV5 Needs to Improve its News and Sports Broadcasts

TV5 needs to improve its production of sports and news programs in order to be more consistent with the other networks. (Photo courtesy of TV5)

TV5’s sports broadcasting resume was enhanced by acquiring the broadcast rights for this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. However, there are some issues that need to be resolved when it comes to both sports and news coverage.

As I observed the recent Sports5 broadcasts of the NCAA and PBA, there is something wrong with their live coverage, and that involves the announcers and courtside reporters of the said network. Typically announcers are required to wait for the commercials to end before resuming their duties, but in Sports5’s example, the announcers are already speaking once the commercials are done and a live shot of the game is shown. This is a bad example of airing a live sports event.

If Sports5’s vision is to be a leader in sportscasting, their announcers need to improve in terms of timing and thorough delivery. By eliminating this ‘can’t wait’ mentality, the broadcast of a live sports event will be well-produced and consistent. Perhaps they should look at ABS-CBN Sports’ coverage of the UAAP and see why.

Going to the news aspect, I was disgusted by Radyo5 92.3 News FM’s simulcast of ‘T3: Reload’ the other day. Their commercial breaks are too long, so much so that the final segment where Ben, Erwin and Raffy Tulfo usually deliver their final remarks and bid farewell to the viewers never aired. Meanwhile, on AksyonTV’s simulcasts of Radyo5 programs, their ‘Aksyon Breaking’ news segment is also too long, perhaps twice as long as the ‘Aksyon News Update’ on Radyo5, due to the coverage of so many stories and ‘Aksyon Weather’. As a result, the simulcast of the radio program does not start in time on AksyonTV.

Perhaps the most misleading observation is the title ‘Aksyon Breaking’. The title should only be used during live press conferences and urgent breaking news that happen beyond the top of the hour such as ongoing fires, hostage crises, accidents and shooting incidents. ‘Aksyon News Alert’, the title used on TV5, is the more applicable title for AksyonTV’s top-of-the-hour newsbreaks.

With that in mind, here are some suggestions. Whenever ‘T3: Reload’ is aired on Radyo5, they should limit themselves to 30 or 60-second commercial breaks, due to the lengthy resolution of complaints on the program. On ‘Aksyon’, around 120 to 150 seconds is more than enough. And during AksyonTV’s top-of-the-hour newsbreaks, they should limit their stories to just one or two, and deliver them in an average of 40 to 50 seconds. Finally, ‘Aksyon Weather’ should move back to the :30 minute mark of the hour, and include the global and regional weather segments.

TV5 definitely has the potential to produce the best sports and news programming possible. But unless they improve on these aspects, their progression as a media giant will be hindered.

TV5’s Busy February

TV5’s February highlight will be the historic first broadcast of the Winter Olympics, which will be held at Sochi, Russia this month.

The month of February will be TV5’s busiest month so far. And it does not include the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup playoffs and other current programs.

Yesterday morning, the Super Bowl was aired on the Kapatid network. The championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, along with the halftime performance of Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, were a social media hit during and after the event. The game was carried by TV5 and sister stations AksyonTV and Hyper, and was also shown on PLDT’s Home Fibr TVolution subscription service.

TV5 will also present the Studio5 Original Movies this month. For its first offering tonight, Alice Dixson and Mark Neumann will join forces in ‘Lady Next Door’. Afterwards, the tandem ‘Guy and Pip’ (Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III) will reunite on the shortie ‘When I Fall in Love’, followed by Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Daniel Matsunaga in ‘The Replacement Bride’, before finishing the mini-series with ‘Bawat Sandali’, featuring an all-star cast consisting of Derek Ramsey, Angel Aquino, Yul Servo, Mylene Dizon, and Philip Salvador. Studio5 Original Movies air on each Tuesday of the month after ‘Madam Chairman’.

TV5 will also make history by airing the Winter Olympics for the first time. This year’s event will be in Sochi, Russia, and will attract over 2,500 athletes, including the lone Philippine representative in figure skater Michael Christian Martinez. The event will be held from February 8 to 24 (Manila time), and will be seen on TV5 and sister stations AksyonTV and Hyper. In addition, PLDT’s broadband internet service will bring extended coverage to the event.

TV5’s other major sports event for the month will be the ‘Ronda Pilipinas’. The event began last February 1, and highlights of the race will be seen on a daily basis until February 16. And finally, the NCAA volleyball tournament reaches its conclusion this week with the airing of the finals of the men’s and women’s event.

This is definitely one hectic month for TV5 management. Now if they can start sorting out the mess that is the programming schedules, then the viewers will be happy and interested.