IBC-13: Continues to Shake Viewing Habits

August 29, 2014

MANILA, Philippines - While other networks air teleserye on primetime, sequestered TV station IBC-13 dares take the road less traveled. Because it airs the croco adventurserye Kroko: Ang Alamat sa Zoo, actionserye Hitman, fantaserye Janella: A Princess Girl, action-packed superserye Voltron Man and the heart-warming teleserye Your Heart, My Love on weeknights, it also airs sitcoms Iskul Bukol Men (Thursday) and the family sitcom Maya Loves Sir Chief (Saturday). drama anthology Sandy's Romance and Happy TODAS when even industry insiders say this genre is on its way. It dubs Winx Club, Ghost Fighter, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Ultraman Tiga in Tagalog to make it more accessible to Pinoy kids.

Lito Ocampo Cruz, the network’s executive vice-president (EVP), says that’s precisely what the slogan called Kapinoy ng Bagong Pilipino and Ito'ng Bagong Channel 13 means. The network wants to shake viewing habits by thinking out of the box. This means going out of the air-conditioned office and bringing movies to those who matter most: The people.

Kapinoy viewers who is watching the Viva Tagalog movies also can do so through Viva Cine Idols (Monday), Viva Box Office (Saturday) and Sunday Sinemaks (Sunday). a reaching project that screens Pinoy films in barangay halls. Some big screenings, townsfolf cann go for free, and watch auditions for IBC-13’s reality show fopr the national singing competition Born to be a Superstar along the way. This common touch explains why the show, hosted by the Asia's young diva princess Anja Aguilar, posed an impressive 38.6% audience share, or over three million Mega Manila eyeballs.

“It’s our banner show,” crows Lito. He also talks of “triple growth in Manila,” cause for a month-long second anniversary celebration to toast the network that first went on air September 30, 2012. Like a father proudly showing off his child’s honors, Lito glows with stories about “school attacks.”

These are forays into Metro campuses where children and teenagers get to know about the network’s shows when they are held right in their own turf.

This will make it easier for the network to someday develop its own pool of talents who will star in its shows.

The situation call for one, since young stars from ABS-CBN and GMA 7 also freely appear in IBC-13 shows. GMA's Drew Arellano, for one, host IBC's top-rater The Million Second Quiz, GMA's Elmo Magalona also host IBC's sing-along videoke game show Killer Karaoke, and ABS-CBN's Robi Domingo, for one, now also hosts IBC's top-rater Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

But given a few more years when the dog-eat-dog rivalry goes out of bounds, The Kapinoy Network will have to turn on homegrown talents to survive.

But survival is the least of the network’s worries for now. Now when it says Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap's Maya Loves Sir Chief is "consistently setting an upward trend in the ratings, beating other sitcoms such as Home Sweetie Home and Pepito Manaloto within its time slot and inching its way towards No.1 position."

When on Sunday nights, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? “hit 29.7% audience share one Saturday, outflanking ABS-CBN’s Rated K and GMA 7’s Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho.” Inspired, Lito promises to come up with a new tagline to best mirror the network’s thrust of taking televiewing habits “to the next level.” Exactly how will he change the Ito'ng Bagong Channel 13 tagline to a more catchy one? Mum’s the word.

Instead, Lito declares, “It is our commitment to the viewers to continually give them more quality choices in free-to-air television. This is what the partnership between Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), Asian Television Content Philippines Corporation (ATC) and Viva Entertainment hoped to achieve when we relaunched IBC-13 brand a year ago… Going into our 54th year, we’ll continue to bring innovative, creative and highly-entertaining programs for our progressive Pinoys.”

Let’s hope he fulfills that promise.