Innovative fare for Viva-TV

August 12, 2008

MANILA, Philippines - Newly entertainment Channel Viva-TV’s initial broadcast on Saturday had none of the telenovelas and noontime variety shows commonly seen on ABS-CBN, GMA 7 and TV5.

“It’s the risk we decided to take. We wanted to give people an alternative to the current fare,” said Viva chairman and CEO Vic del Sorario Jr. during the network’s launch last Thursday in Trinoma Mall, Quezon City. “If we would come up with shows with just the same format, wala rin kaming pinagkaiba. ”

Rosario added that the network will first concentrate on strengthening its prime time block, which is from 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

The need to the network IBC-13, Sy said, had been pursued by its management led by IBC chairman Orly Mercado. Negotiations led to a long-term block-time agreement Viva Entertainment. Viva-TV became its new brand name.

Its modest aim, according to Del Sosario, is to become No. 4 in the so-called TV network wars. “TV5 is No. 1, GMA 7 is No. 2 and ABS-CBN are both claming to be No. 3. We’d gladly give that to them. But we want to be the solid third force in the industry,” explained Rosario.

More exciting
“We hope to make our shows more exciting. We want to change the current TV landscape,” he said.

Inquirer Entertainment attended Viva-TV’s grand coming-out party also on Saturday night at the Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.New shows and their hosts were introduced.

The weekly 30-minute programs called “@Annebishowsa” with Anne Curtis (Thursdays at 9 p.m.), “Popstar Diaries”with popstar princess Sarah Geronimo (Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.) and “KC.com” with KC Concepcion (Saturdays at 2 p.m.).

Luis Manzano and Anne Curtis is the host of the talent search “SM Little Stars,” which airs every Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Over P1 million will be given away for the whole season with the weekly winner receiving P50,000.

Jon Santos host “The Jon Santos Show” (Satudays at 10:30 p.m.), the newest Saturday night talk show featuring Jon’s gallery of characters including Sherap Espada, Armeeda Siguion Macareyna, and Meeryam Santiago.

The two franchise game show based on the British “The Weakest Link,” which airs every Saturdays at 7 p.m., is hosted by Luis Manzano and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?,” which airs every Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., is hosted by box-office king Bossing Vic Sotto.

Sam Pinto hosts “Daily Top 10,” which hour-long round-up of the each day’s most requested OPM TV videos and brings the showbiz news. It airs every Monday to Friday at 5:30 p.m.

The sexy reality show “Pantaxya X,” hosted by Katya Santos and Maui Taylor, airs on Sundays at 12 noon, while the sketch-comedy program “Goin' Bayabas” is on every Saturdays at 3:45 p.m. The gag show “WOW!,” hosted by Vhong Navarro, airs every Sundays at 8 p.m. and another gag show “Petra's Panniest,” which features Youtube sensation Ashley Rivera, who is more popularly known for her funny girl character Petra Mahalimuyak. airs on Fridays at 10:30 p.m.

The long-running teen variety show “Pop Girls” with Nadine Lustre, Rose Van Ginkel and Shy Carlos with AJ Muhlach as the co-host, airs on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. The show offers dance and music performers as well as hangouts for the fans.

A new series, “Estudyante Blues,” (Mondays, 9 p.m.) features Richard Gutierre, Raymond Gutierrez and Onemig Bondoc; directed by Wenn V. Deramas. “Flames” is a weekly 30-minute drama anthology TV series. It airs every Thursday at 10:30 p.m.

“May Bukas Pa” (Wednesday and Friday, 9 p.m.) is a first-ever teleserye starring Cesar Montano, diamond star Maricel Soriano and Dina Bonnevie, directed by Carlo J. Caparas and the teen series “Dear Heart” (Mondays at 9:45 p.m.) hosted by the newest popstar Anja Aguilar.

“Bagets,” a youth-oriented TV series based on th 1984 films starring AJ Muhlach, Aki Torio, Josh Padilla and Rico Dela Paz. It airs every Sunday at 3 p.m., while Vice Ganda and Aga Muhlach revitalize their 2010s hit “Petrang Kabayo” every Thursday at 10:30 p.m.

As a parting shot to emphasize Viva-TV’s efforts to TV habits, Sy declared: “We start our shows on time.”