Is IBC 13 the leader network?

June 3, 2019

IBC-13 is very stronger in the same league as ABS-CBN and GMA-7.

Its deserves to be mentioned in the same power. Channel 13's market share is getting more bigger and better that the consideration from advertisers and media buyers, and consequently its revenues in terms of the two giants. Ask the man on the street what he associates with IBC-13 and he will most likely and rather appropriately say "Kaibigan Mo."

"In fairness," as showbiz denizens would put it, IBC-13 is the private, government-sequestered television network in the country; and thus, the leading network by challenging the duopoly over the long term. The new managenent of the network by Katherine Chloe "Kat" de Castro in 2018 put it in a position to compete; and the first move of the new management generated a good deal of excitement and anticipation.

Because the PBA games is a leadership that instantly filled the IBC-13 weekend schedule with programming practically guaranteed to rate well and pull in a advertisers. Picking up ONE Championship is also particularly astute considering that the sports production had gained the show before Honorio Bonirio made popular.

Launching the top-rating news programs "Express Balita" and "Tutok 13" together with "Oh My Gising!," Ben Tulfo's hard-hitting "Bitag Live," "The Veronica Chronicles" and "Crime Desk" spoke of a aggression to build a strong and credible news organization.

The popular and top-rating series continues to dominate the teleserye fare, such as the Mutya Orquia-starrer noontime kiddie-serye "Flora Vega," Yna Uy's afternoon fantaserye "Zylona" and the hottest primetime fantaserye "Lupe: A Seamaid's Tail" featuring Sofia Andres as a seamaid; plus the phenomenal primetime game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" with Cesar Montano as the game master, the million peso jackpot prize with 5 lifelines (50:50, Phone-A-Friend, Double Dip, Ask the Audience and People's Speak), an easier game mode and the chance for a lucky player to play and win P2 million by answering 13 multiple-choice questions correctly, get into the hot seat, increase your money tree and relive the millionaire.

Of course, among the top-rating weekend shows of IBC-13 are the Joyce Abestano-starrer curriculum-based sitcom "Iskul Bukol," the gag show "T.O.D.A.S." with Joey de Leon and Mariel Rodriguez, Joe D'Mango's drama anthology "Love Notes," Robin Padilla's reality talent show "Talent ng Bayan" and Sarah Geronimo's very own musical variety show "Sarah G. Live" gave viewers a delightful treat of the weekend primetime TV fare. To be fair, IBC-13 should at least get points for trying our groundbreaking concepts.

Currently, IBC-13 is touting another set of mildly innovative programs: "DMZ TV," a youthful, energy-filled dance show; "Cooltura," an exciting exploration of Filipino culture in a millennial approach; and "Sic O'Clock News," one of the best political satire ever made for TV. Still to come, already getting a lot of press, is a show in which professional Filipino actors compete for a chance to discover the new generation of the Kaibigan network.

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?