The news is in the news!

Tuesday, 01 March 2011 10:21

Written by Resti Reyes. Jr.

Monday, February 28, 2011 marks the initial broadcast of GMA7’s newest initiative: the transformation of QTV11 from an entertainment channel to a 24/7 news channel. Not to be outdone, TV5 is resurrecting the former MTV Pilipinas UHF channel 41 into its own 24/7 news channel. But we can’t watch Ch 41 because we are on SkyCable, and Sky doesn’t carry Channel 41. Not yet anyway.

ABS had a trade event last Tuesday, February 22 for its news network, but since Mind Wars was battling tummy troubles that evening, we missed the big announcement. Although we are sure we will get it eventually. Would ABS be trying a pre-emptive strike ahead of the competition? Let’s wait till we get more details.

And last Friday, February 25, Vic Agustin wrote in his Cocktales column that the Tieng brothers of the Solar Group have also made a decision to throw their hat into the brewing news war. Erstwhile etc channel 21 will become their 24/7 news channel, and the Tiengs have hired former ANC news director and PNoy volunteer Jing Magsaysay to head their news team. We are looking at three new 24/7 news channels… What’s going on?

(Aside: just curious… whatever happened to UHF Channel 27? Why didn’t GMA7 use it for their 24/7 news channel?)

Has the news genre suddenly become so profitable that everybody wants in on it? Only a few weeks ago we had seen how entertainment was winning over its battle with news when ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol was driven away from the same time slot as TV5’s Willing Willie, a Kabayan and Korina tandem there notwithstanding. While we are waiting to see how Kris Aquino’s The Price is Right is doing in the ratings at that slot, it is interesting to ask about ABS-CBN’s ANC, the original 24/7 local news channel. ANC is 15 years old this year. It is highly respected by the intelligentsia, but precisely because it caters to that market, don’t expect it to be showing blockbuster hit programs or be a top rating station. Consequently, it wont be overloaded with TV commercials either. Maybe TV Patrol, Bandila, Saksi and 24 Oras are top raters and moneymakers, but if experience tells us ANC is not, then why do a 24/7 news channel at all?

These guys doing all the new news reprogramming work must know something we don’t.

Hold on. What happens to the popular entertainment channel etc? It will take over the programming of RPN9. Cable fare will now be available on the free-to-air VHF band, although technically, UHF channel 21 is also free-to-air, but its signal is so poor, you couldn’t possibly get it without a cable service. This tactic was last used quite successfully by ABS-CBN when it reprogrammed Studio 23 many years ago. It was Meckoy Quiogue in charge at the time. It had hits like Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210. It was a great idea, and it worked wonders for them at the time. This was in the 90’s when cable TV penetration wasn’t so good yet, so it was a welcome development for many middle class homes who had a taste for Hollywood fare but didn’t have cable service yet.

Of course there was an earlier incarnation of this very same concept: back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, RBS (Republic Broadcasting System), as GMA7 was known then, was running all the canned English programs while the bigger networks at the time, namely IBC13 and RPN9 were the top rating networks. They were the top raters because they had the hit local programs: Iskul Bukol, TODAS, Okay Ka Fairy Ko, John en Marsha (with Dolphy), Superstar (Nora Aunor), and the like. Channel 7, in contrast, had all the popular English programs, including Charlie’s Angels and Moonlighting (when Bruce Willis still had a full crop of hair). Channel 7 didn’t get any high ratings, but they got the bulk of advertising revenues. The basic logic was – those audiences who were watching the canned foreign shows had to be the wealthier, more educated segment of the population, and would therefore have the higher purchasing power. So all the bigger advertisers placed their ads there. This was before EDSA1, and Kuya Freddie Garcia was running a company called Network Marketing Corporation (NMC). NMC was a blocktimer on RBS, marketing all those hit US shows, much like what Solar is doing now on RPN9, SBN21, and RJTV. The exceptions then would be the shows of another famous blocktimer, Edward Tan – Knight Rider, Airwolf, The A-Team.

So, will this same tactic work again now? We are not so sure. The main reason for our doubt is that cable service has already achieved critical mass, reaching more than half of TV households. That’s enough to cover most of the middle class. This explains why we have hits like CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol and Glee even though they can only be viewed over cable channels. And because content is king, meaning, unless etc can source desirable program content that is not already available on the other cable channels, then what would drive audiences to them? Solar has in fact been doing it for quite some time over RPN9, with their earlier C/S programming (Crime and Suspense), and it never took off. Let’s wish them luck. Maybe C/S was too heavy for the masa, and etc will be more welcome fare.

Going back to the main issue… news programming is now hot copy. What’s driving the trend, we do not yet know. If 2011 were an election year, it would be easy enough to assign the phenomenon to expected increase of public interest in news and public affairs programs. Perhaps it is a growing global consciousness among Filipinos. We are now more attuned to what is happening abroad than we were ever before. Possibly because Filipinos have relatives practically everywhere in the globe, then we want to know what’s happening to our kababayans in Libya, and if there are Pinoys trapped in the rubble in Christchurch, New Zealand. The logic is sound. As more and more Filipinos become citizens of the global village, we get an ever expanding world view. For perspective, remember that before the first Gulf War in 1991, nobody here even knew what CNN was.

That little point about Channel 41 not being available on SkyCable should be resolved soon. As far as we know, all free-to-air channels are “must carry” channels for all cable service operators. We wonder if Cignal would retaliate by deleting ANC or Studio 23 from their line up? Is it time somebody filed an Antitrust Bill in Congress?

The awaited discussion on the internet is delayed again… our apologies. Please understand. This is, shall we say, “breaking news”.

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