Bilyonaryo Manny V. Pangilinan admits that he faced a challenging decision in bumping off ABS-CBN’s “It’s Showtime” from TV5’s noontime programming in favor of his newly-minted partners Tito, Vic, and Joey’s (TVJ) “Eat Bulaga.”
“We have had to make a tough choice between Showtime and this particular production item. And it was just a purely business decision that we arrived at,” said the Mediaquest Holdings chairman, owner of TV 5, in a briefing on June 20.
Pangilinan clarified that ABS-CBN’s status was that of a blocktimer, with their contract set to expire on June 30. In contrast, Mediaquest will become a partner of TVJ in the production of “Eat Bulaga” on TV5.
“So nagkataon lang as a matter of serendipity that, you know, the thing blew up,” said Pangilinan.
Pangilinan said he felt a strong sense of responsibility to offer TVJ a new home after their departure from long-time producer TAPE, owned by Romy Jalosjos, and their exit from GMA7.
“They’re (TVJ) part of the big creative process and they should be owners. And they should be acknowledged and treated as such…Hindi naman manggagaling sa amin ang content, e, wala naman kaming alam. Masyado kaming seryoso sa buhay, di ba?” said Pangilinan alluding to TV 5’s dependence on content creators to fill up its programming.
Pangilinan has no regrets about choosing Eat Bulaga over Showtime, even after ABS-CBN declined TV5’s offer to move to the pre-primetime slot and switched to GTV, a sub-channel of GMA, in order to retain their preferred noontime slot.
“Hindi kami nagkulang sa pagtulong sa ABS. We are proud of what we have done for them. And you know, we continue to have arrangements with them in terms of their content,” said Pangilinan referring to ABS-CBN’s “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” and “Dirty Linen” which are on TV 5’s prime time.
“I have not forsaken, again, our duty to them, what was done to them. We felt that we have to provide them a platform…Hindi kami namimili. Kung sino ang deserving ng ano, nararapat na ipakita sa aming plataporma,” he added.
In 2020, ABS-CBN, chaired by Martin “Mark” Lagdameo Lopez, lost its franchise, leading to significant changes in the Philippine broadcasting landscape. During this time, TV5 emerged as one of the first networks to extend a free-to-air TV channel to ABS-CBN, which is owned by the Lopez family. This collaboration allowed ABS-CBN to continue airing its shows and reach a wide audience despite the challenges it faced.
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