Cignal Steps In for Incapable TV5

The lack of an entertainment division on TV5 has forced its affiliates to pick up the slack.

Satellite subscription service Cignal recently launched its entertainment division, with the intent towards distributing content to its online and satellite television platforms. The newly-launched Cignal Entertainment will kick things off with the mini-series ‘Tukhang’.

The two-episode pilot will air July 22 on Colours and Sari-Sari Channel. It will star James Blanco, Karel Marquez, Mon Confiado, Jake Macapagal, Janna Victoria, Butch Francisco, Yul Servo, Archi Adamos, Jerould Aceron and Zandra Summer.

Cignal Entertainment will also have a few other offerings in store for its subscribers. They are:

Born Beautiful – The sequel to the critically-acclaimed movie ‘Die Beautiful’, it will star Christian Bables as Barbs. The story will pick up from the time Trisha (Paolo Ballesteros) died.

The Orbiters – This original series will star Cedrick Juan, Malak So, Bob Jbeili and Victor Anastacio. It will be directed by Miko Livelo and Dominic Lim.

Sleepless – Another independent film that is being transformed into a television series, it will star Albie Casino, Mara Lopez, Trina Legaspi, Acey Aguilar, Shaira Mae and Martin Escudero. Directed by Prime Cruz.

Feels Like Forever – An original series that focuses on love and other things that can happen in 24 hours. It will be directed by Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo and Ivan Payawal.

With the exception of ‘Tukhang’, all of Cignal Entertainment’s upcoming series will be produced by The IdeaFirst Company. The company’s president, Perci Intalan, is a former entertainment head at TV5.

The only way to go is up, and as TV5 focuses more on sports, news and imported entertainment shows, Cignal makes sure that the entertainment aspect within the MVP Group will not go down quietly. The division is still young, but with the help of independent producers such as IdeaFirst, all the hard work should be worth it.

Now let’s just hope that the new Cignal Entertainment will not fall from grace the same way TV5’s entertainment division did. This is a prime opportunity for Manny V. Pangilinan to bounce back, so make it count.

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.