Show kicks off IBC-13's new prime time strategy launches its first fantasy series

Posted on January 06, 2014 07:37:00 PM

The country’s number 3 network is definitely on the go to get the top spot in the TV ratings race.

Sequestered TV station IBC-13 has been aggressively luring the best people in the industry to join its turf, producing fresh shows to compete head to head with those offerings of ABS-CBN and GMA. In fact, more and more veteran actors had already signed up for different shows in the network.

During the 70's and 80's, the network enjoyed popularity where Iskul Bukol, Seeing Stars with Joe Quirino, T.O.D.A.S., Chicks to Chicks, Maricel Live!, The Sharon Cuneta Show, Sic O'Clock News, Loveloness were hits.

Filipino sports fans who watched the professional basketball league as the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) (under Sports5) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) (under Solar Sports).

Aside from the PBA and NBA basketball, the network has already strings of hit shows on its belt with DMZ-TV, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Born to be a Superstar. It has also produced several drama series (Esperanza, 5 Girls and Daddy and Safe In The Arms Of Love) which are already very much competitive quality-wise sans those produced by rival networks.

Now, IBC-13 has started its campaign to snag prime time TV audiences from rival networks and begin airing its first fantasy series, Janella in Wonderland, on Monday, moving the PBA games (under Sports5 since 2011) -- which monopolized IBC-13’s prime time and now with the total of 3 games -- to the weekend prime time slot on Saturday 3:30-5:30 p.m. and Sunday 3-7 p.m.

JANELLA SALVADOR stars in IBC’s Janella in Wonderland

Janella in Wonderland, IBC-13’s very first fantaserye which debuted on January 6 and airing from Monday to Friday, takes over the time slot vacated by the PBA games on Wednesday and Friday.

The PBA games now aired on Saturday (3:30-5:30 p.m.) and Sunday (3-7 p.m.), after monopolizing IBC-13’s prime time programming for more than four years.

Network executives led by Eric Canoy decided last month to move the PBA games to the weekend prime time slot starting January 4 with the total of 3 live games, paving the way for IBC-13 in a slate to build its prime-time programming line-up while pitting the sequestered TV network head-to-head against the two giant networks.

IBC Entertainment TV head Laurenti Dyogi said the launch of Janella in Wonderland is just the first of the many new prime time shows that the network will launch this year.

“We [at IBC-13] will start with Janella in Wonderland, then will build our prime time programming from there," Mr. Dyogi told BusinessWorld in an interview last Sunday.

"We are diversifying our programming line-up to cater to more audience preferences," he added.

MONOPOLIZING TIME

Prime time television, which is between 6 and 10 p.m., is called such because it is during this time when TV viewing is at its peak. Because of this, advertisers place most of their TV commercials in programs aired during this time.

Industry observers earlier pointed out that IBC-13 was started out in attracting more advertisers when they allowed PBA games airing on weekend prime time in the total of 3 games (one game on Saturday and two games on Sunday) while take over their prime time programming.

From 2011 to 2013, the game was supposed to air on Wednesday and Friday with first game from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the second game from 7:15 to 9 p.m., but in November 2013 became 1.5 hour for the games to go at night and airing from 7:30 to 9 p.m., Mr. Canoy admits that the PBA games were "polarizing" for advertisers.

"The success of our drama series on the network's primetime block Kapinoy Primetime, like the Philippine remake of the 2000 hit telenovela Carita de Angel, a fantasy series at 5:45 p.m.; I Will Be Here moving to its new timeslot at 8:30 p.m.; and Safe in the Arms of Love moved to 9:15 p.m. slot, has shown us that the audiences want to watch our nightly drama series at night," Mr. Dyogi said during a press conference last week.

He said that on Jan. 27, IBC-13 will launch its new drama series Maghihintay Sa’yo, featuring Cristine Reyes with Diether Ocampo, Maxene Magalona, and Raymart Santiago. The series will replace the previous series Safe in the Arms of Love, which was aired its last episode on Jan. 24.

As its first venture into prime-time fantaserye, IBC-13 hopes to revamped all that, and get more advertisers interested with the launch of the very first fantasy series Janella in Wonderland, starring the 15-year-old teen actress Janella Salvador, who is also crossover to ABS-CBN’s Be Careful with My Heart and she is now IBC contract star as the only primetime princess.

Directed by acclaimed film and TV director Jeffrey Jeturian, Salvador played the lead role as Janella Bernardo, a 15-year old girl who turning as a teen mermaid tale under the sea as the Princess of the Sea where the sea creatures rule in the island, at home, in school and the mermaid into underwater.

She's a classmate from high school who she wearing a school uniform and a teenager while she's a mermaid! Janella and her dolphin friend Zuma set off on an undersea adventure to rescue from Oceana.

Janella in Wonderland also stars Marlo Mortel as Janella’s love interest. Rounding with the refreshing cast are Precious Lara Quigaman, Bobby Andrews, Alyanna Angeles, Andrei Felix, Bettina Carlos, Shy Carlos, Alexandra Macanan, Kiko Estrada, Nathan Barrera, Aldred Nasayao, Joshua Dionisio, Alfred Vargas as King Triton, Kat Alano, Jai and Joj Agpangan, the villains are Alessandra de Rossi as Eris and Meryll Soriano as Ursula, and the voices of Louise Abuel as Zuma, Elmo Magalona as Sebastian and Pia Magalona as Fisher. The special participation are Sofia Millares as young Janella, Jenine Desiderio and Freddie Webb.

LOSSES

The launch of Janella in Wonderland, as well as the changes that IBC-13 is implementing in its prime time line up, comes after reports claimed that the network incurred operating in net profit of more than P4 billion last year. The government is now allowed to sell the network because it is still up for privatization by the government.

While the network has denied to release in privatization, network executives admit that IBC-13 will continue to gain in 2013.

"The revenues and income are part of growing the network," Mr. Canoy explained. "We had to spend for new equipment, new lights, and new cameras. We had to pay for great actors and actresses, brilliant directors, creative scriptwriters," he added.

Janella in Wonderland airs weeknights 7:45 p.m. after the newscast Express Balita, IBC-13's longest-running and highest rated primetime news program.