anime, entertainment, Japan, Philippines, television

GMA’s Astig Authority a Sinking Ship Thanks to Magandang Buhay

How the mighty have fallen.

The past few days have not been kind to GMA’s Astig Authority block, and it showed in the recent ratings posted by the more ‘national’ Kantar firm. As seen in these figures below, it is clear that the block has lost the interest of the public while rival ‘Magandang Buhay’ is beginning to gain momentum with each passing episode.

February 27, 2017

Magandang Buhay (8.1%) vs. Ghost Fighter (5.9%) / Pokemon Xy (6.7%) / Bleach (7.3%)

March 6, 2017

Magandang Buhay (7.5%) vs. Ghost Fighter (5.9%) / Pokemon Xy (6.7%) / Bleach (7.1%)

March 13, 2017

Magandang Buhay (8.2%) vs. Ghost Fighter (6.3%) / Pokemon Xy (6.9%) / Bleach (7.5%)

March 14, 2017

Magandang Buhay (8.3%) vs. Ghost Fighter (5.8%) / Pokemon Xy (6.5%) / Bleach (6.9%)

March 15, 2017

Magandang Buhay (7.8%) vs. Ghost Fighter (5.7%) /  Pokemon Xy (6.9%) / Bleach (6.7%)

So what is the common denominator in these five episodes? Basically ‘Magandang Buhay”s guests came from ABS-CBN’s three top-rated shows in ‘It’s Showtime’, ‘Ang Probinsyano’ and the recently concluded ‘Pinoy Big Brother: Lucky 7’, and the constant top-notch performances of the three shows carried over to the former.

On the other hand, anime’s declining interest on free-to-air television is hitting Astig Authority hard. The fact that Filipino anime fans are moving over to cable and internet for their anime needs, not to mention GMA’s constant overreliance on old anime, is something that the network has yet to realize at this point.

One can only look at ABS-CBN’s controversial decision to cease airing anime in June of last year. The only difference here is that ABS-CBN has the digital TV channel Yey! and the cable channel Hero to back them up, whereas GMA doesn’t have the benefit of sister cable channels to constantly commit to a variety of anime.

Speaking of relying too much on reruns, GMA just announced that a long-awaited Filipino redub of ‘Voltes V’ (voiced by young GMA stars) will hit the airwaves next Monday. This should only make things worse for Astig Authority, as the classic Japanese mecha anime has been re-aired multiple times since 1977.

That said, unless GMA plans a new programming strategy, the slumping fortunes of Astig Authority may continue to last for a longer period. For a network once proud of bringing successful anime titles to the Filipino mainstream, this is unacceptable to say the least.

In the end, GMA must accept reality and move on, because airing anime on free TV is no longer a thing at this point (unless you’re TV5 and you’re willing to bring new animes with it). No offense, but the time is now for GMA to have something else to offer every weekday morning.

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anime, entertainment, Philippines, television

In 100 Words: TV5 AniMEGA Goes Primetime

TV5’s AniMEGA block is going primetime.

This was recently confirmed by the TV5 AniMEGA Facebook page, posting this short statement that brought some excitement to anime fans in the country. Soon after, they announced that Dreamworks’ ‘Voltron: Legendary Defender’ will be the first AniMEGA show to move to primetime effective March 20.

It can be recalled that during the Ka-Shake era from 2008-10, TV5’s AniMEGA block was aired on primetime opposite ABS-CBN and GMA’s teleseryes. While the response was enthusiastic, the block was eliminated as part of new owner Manny V. Pangilinan’s futile quest to go head-on with both ABS-CBN and GMA.

Now that wounds were mended between TV5 and its legion of anime fans, one can only hope that AniMEGA on primetime will be here to stay. It will be interesting how this experiment will turn out the second time around, so good luck.

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Examining Chot Reyes’ Plans for TV5

The Chot Reyes era on TV5 is indeed underway.

Upon his ascension to the position of chief executive officer late last year, Chot vowed to make some sweeping changes to TV5. After all, 2016 was a poor year for the Kapatid network, one marked by the ill-fated VIVA partnership, loss of revenue and programming quality, and streamlining of operations.

This year, TV5 has a new set of programs coming up, one that will include the return of the beloved AniMEGA block. However, this is only a portion of a much-needed overhaul, one that will also include sister UHF station AksyonTV and FM radio station Radyo5 92.3 News FM.

More on AksyonTV and Radyo5 in an upcoming article. In the meantime, here is the master plan that Chot Reyes conceived for TV5 this 2017.

AniMEGA

AniMEGA has long been a staple of TV5’s programming, having been aired since the rebrand in 2008. Unfortunately, it has run on and off for the past several years, to the point that anime fans were increasingly fed up by TV5’s constant mishandling of the block.

Its return this year should give anime fans a new reason to watch, with series such as ‘Attack on Titan: Junior High’, ‘Kantai Collection’, ‘Myriad Colors Phantom World’, ‘Knights of Sidonia’ and ‘Uta no Prince-sama Maji 1000%’ airing on TV5 soon. Hopefully TV5 will no longer regret about reviving AniMEGA ever again.

Brillante Mendoza Presents

The dissolution of TV5’s entertainment department forced the network to rely on outside sources. One of them will be director Brillante Mendoza, who will produce several made-for-TV films and mini-series as part of the ‘Brillante Mendoza Presents’ umbrella.

These days, TV5’s entertainment fare is exclusive to digital media under the Digital5 banner (e.g. ‘Kontrabando’, ‘Forever Sucks’). The addition of Brillante Mendoza, however, made it clear that TV5 is not done collaborating on homegrown entertainment fare on TV.

Philippines’ Next Top Model

It had been nearly a decade since ‘Philippines’ Next Top Model’ aired on TV (via RPN-9). This year, TV5 will revive the said modeling reality show, though it remains to be seen if TV5’s version will be a second cycle or a rebooted first cycle.

TV5 is no stranger to the ‘Top Model’ series, having aired ‘Asia’s Next Top Model’ a few years ago. However, PNTM’s status as either a TV5-produced show or a blocktimer remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

More Tagalized American Series

Finally, TV5 will air new American action series, which will obviously be dubbed in Filipino. Two of them, ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Quantico’, are expected to air during the first quarter of this year.

Of course, TV5 will still air other ongoing series such as ‘Smallville’, ‘Supernatural’ and ‘The Walking Dead’. But for 2017, the women of ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Quantico’ will be in charge.

TV5 is expected to unveil more game-changing programs in the months to come. But at this point, the pieces are now firmly in place, as TV5 vows to be a different station this 2017.

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AniMega Has a New Timeslot, Plus Other Updates on TV5’s Weekday Schedule

TV5’s AniMega block was moved from weekday mornings to weekday afternoons beginning last Monday. (Logo courtesy of TV5)

Another tweak took place on TV5’s weekday lineup.

As reported by Anime Pilipinas, the AniMega block was moved from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, effective last Monday. The new AniMega lineup consists of:

  • Transformers: Animated
  • Rockman.EXE Beast
  • Street Fighter
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

In doing so, TV5 avoided competing with the animes of ABS-CBN and GMA and instead focused on alternative programming in a slot dominated by noontime shows and teleseryes.

But while TV5 gave anime fans a favor, they did not announce a replacement for the vacated slot of AniMega. Instead, ‘Movie Max 5’ filled in following the TV5 Kids block, which is by far the earliest timeslot for movies on TV5 since the takeover by Manny V. Pangilinan.

There were also questions as to what happened to ‘Healing Galing’ and ‘Solved na Solved’, the two shows that briefly shared the 10:30 a.m. slot for two weeks. At the moment, it remains to be seen whether or not the two shows were cancelled or up for renewal, so wait for further updates.

With ‘Healing Galing’ and ‘Solved na Solved’ currently out of the picture, and with ‘Movie Max 5’ now part of the morning lineup, ‘Happy Wife, Happy Life’ was moved to a new time of 10:15 a.m. The lifestyle show recently added Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla as its new co-host, replacing original hosts Jeck Maierhofer and RR Enriquez.

Other than the aforementioned changes in TV5’s weekday lineup, the rest of the list remain untouched.

Regardless, the transfer of AniMega to weekday afternoons is a huge boost for TV5. Their continued push for alternative programming became a factor to this decision, and it should benefit the block’s fierce and loyal anime fanbase in the long term.

It remains to be seen if TV5’s anime fans are buying into this matter, but from the looks of it, this is perhaps one of the best decisions TV5 has made to date.

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