Is IBC 13 the leader network?

ABC-5 is not in the same league as GMA-7 and ABS-CBN.

It hardly even deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. Channel 5s market share is so small that it gets scant consideration from advertisers and media buyers, and consequently its revenues can only be a tiny fraction of those of the two giants. Ask the man on the street what he associates with ABC-5 and he will most likely and rather appropriately say "Wow Mali."

"In fairness," as showbiz denizens would put it, however, ABC-5 is the only other private, non-government-sequestered television network in the country; and thus, the only network with a ghost of a chance of challenging the duopoly over the long term. The acquisition of the network by Tonyboy Cojuangco in 2003 put it in a position to compete; and the first few moves of the new management generated a good deal of excitement and anticipation.

Getting the PBA games was a brilliant idea that instantly filled the ABC-5 schedule with programming practically guaranteed to rate decently and pull in a few advertisers. Picking up "American Idol" was also particularly astute considering that all the other local networks had ignored the show before Jasmine Trias made it the talk of the town.

Launching "Sentro" and "Big News" together with "The Probe Team Documentaries" and "Inquirer TV" spoke of a determination to build a strong, independent and credible news organization. Airing film masterpieces such as "Kagemusha" and "Farewell My Concubine" gave substance to Cojuangcos declaration of support for intelligent alternative TV fare.

Of course, there were missteps as wellAmy Perezs tabloid talk show, Juliana Palermos X-rated magazine show and Epi Quizons reality show slash beauty contest. Thankfully, they were all shortlived programs. But again, to be fair, ABC-5 should at least get points for trying out groundbreaking concepts. In fact, some observers say that if these programs had been produced and aired by either GMA-7 or ABS-CBN, they could have been wildly successful.

Currently, ABC-5 is touting another set of mildly innovative programs: "Club TV," a youthful, energy-filled dance show; "IslaMusik," a surprisingly smart look at Filipino music; and "Dokyu," a view of the world through the eyes of college students. Still to come, but already getting a lot of press, is a show in which professional Filipino actors compete for a chance to break into nothing less than Hollywood.

ABC-5 is clearly not doing nothing. In spite of everything it is doing, however, its ratings are stuck in the low single digits. The real question therefore is: Why cant ABC-5 compete?

Here are ten things ABC-5 has got to work on:

1. Signal strength. ABC-5s transmitter has less than half the power of the GMA-7 and ABS-CBN transmitters. As a result, for example, people in southern portions of Metro Manila who might want to watch "Club TV" (because they have relatives among the dancers) cant do so because channel 5s signal is weak over there. The longer ABC-5 fails to address this problem, the more money it will waste on programming that many people dont get a chance to see.

2. Picture quality. Those viewers who do get the ABC-5 signal often get pictures that are grainy or almost monochromatic. Its no fun to watch the PBA if you cant see the players clearly. ABC-5 has to buy, rent or borrow new cameras, more lights, better playback machines, etc, etc. all the way down the line. With everybody else going digital and high definition, nothing less is acceptable.

3. Infomercials. Animated graphics of enlarged breasts may have a loyal following, but no self-respecting network can air the same dubbed Chinese infomercials over and over again all day and hope to be taken seriously.

4. Canned programs. Studio 23, RPN-9, Star TV, ETC and AXN all carry the top US programs. In order to stand out in this crowd, ABC-5 should only broadcast the current season of a canned series and should at the very least air ahead of the cable channels. Jennifer Aniston has moved on from "Friends." Maybe ABC-5 should, too.

5. Production. GMA-7 spends over a million pesos to produce each episode of its telenovelas. Obviously the people at ABC-5 cant match that level of spending, but they have to realize that even the best concepts will be ruined by cheap execution. The recent Mutya ng Pilipinas beauty pageant is a case in point. Bringing in Fil-Ams and Fil-Fors from all over the world was a winning idea, but the staging of the pageant was about as good as a German Moreno "extravaganza" back in the 80s.

6. Stars. Simply stated, Filipino televiewers want to see stars, but ABC-5 doesnt have any. Ariel and Maverick are fresh talents, not stars. When the freshness fades, real talent has to kick in. Can these guys do more than the disco duck walk?

7. Marketing. The banners in Cubao are cute. But not nearly enough. To build market share, ABC-5 has to get the word out about its programs. Like almost everything else in this list, better publicity requires more money. You can try to be creative and get more bang for your buck, but at the end of the day you still have to shell out the cash.

8. News coverage. Notwithstanding the heroic efforts of ABC-5s reporters, it is often painfully obvious that they dont get all the top stories. ABC-5 has to be a lot more reliable in this respect if it wants to compete in News.

9. PBA. Brilliant stop-gap programming, but not something a general entertainment network wants in the long run, especially because the basketball league has all kinds of problems of its own.

10. Other Sports. Ladies golf?