‘Family TV Mass’ on GMA, ‘Shalom’ goes back to IBC

Timow's Turf

FOR OUR DEAR Catholic brethren around the world, today is St. John Marie Vianney Sunday. His feast day is tomorrow, August 4, and he is the patron saint of priests, the Holy Mother Church’s precious products of continuing the mission of Christ across the ends of the earth for almost two millennia.

Coinciding today’s commemoration and salutation to the Mother Church’s ministers, two television networks made a surprise move.

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Superbook Now on ABS-CBN. Will The 700 Club Follow Suit?

‘Superbook”s Gizmo poses at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City. (Photo credit: CBN Asia)

Young and old ‘Superbook’ fans must be surprised to see ‘Superbook’ on ABS-CBN. After all, the religious cartoon has been airing on GMA for seemingly like forever.

But in a strange twist of fate, CBN Asia, distributors of ‘Superbook’, decided to sign a deal with ABS-CBN to air the classic and revived editions of the program. Both versions started airing on the Kapamilya network on the weekend of July 12.

‘Superbook’, along with sister series ‘The Flying House’, were staples of GMA Network’s early morning programming during the ‘Where You Belong’ era. The said programs were also aired on ZOE-TV Channel 11, later known as GMA News TV, in the early 2000s.

With the move of ‘Superbook’ to ABS-CBN, does this mean ‘The 700 Club Asia’ will switch stations as well?

Like ‘Superbook’, ‘The 700 Club Asia’ is currently managed and produced by CBN Asia, whose parent company, the Christian Broadcasting Network, airs the original American version of ‘The 700 Club’.

The said program has also been a part of GMA’s programming for over 40 years, with the Asian version currently airing on GMA News TV during the late-night hours. But ‘The 700 Club Asia’ is not always synonymous with the Kapuso network.

‘The 700 Club Asia’ also aired on ABS-CBN’s sister network, Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action), during the early 2000s, as well as ABC-5 (now TV5). In 2006, GMA reclaimed the rights to the program and began airing it on QTV, which eventually became GMA News TV.

Although ‘The 700 Club Asia’ continues to air on News TV, there is a chance that the said religious program will jump back to ABS-CBN in the near future. If it does, then it will be a huge loss to GMA, whose financial and programming woes have been well-documented.

For now, ‘The 700 Club Asia’ will remain with the cash-strapped owners inside Timog Avenue. As for ‘Superbook’, new opportunities await in its new home at Mother Ignacia.