Charles Teves
TV5 will be giving Kapamilya Stars the chance to appear in several new shows after Brightlight Productions secured blocktime slots on the network to “(reawaken) the Filipino TV viewing habits that may have waned in the past few months of crisis.”
Brightlight Productions president and CEO Albee Benitez gave advertisers the list of programs that TV5 will be airing and the ABS-CBN stars that will appear on them.
The following are new TV shows.
- Noontime show “Laugh Out Loud” produced by Star Magic’s Johnny Manahan featuring Billy Crawford, Alex Gonzaga, K Brosas, and Wacky Kiray
- “Rated Korina” hosted by Korina Sanchez
- Sitcom “Oh My Dad” starring Ian Veneracion, Dimples Romana, Sue Ramirez, Ariel Urieta. and Gloria Diaz, to be helmed by Jeffrey Jeturian
- “Sunday Noontime Variety Show” with Piolo Pascual and Catriona Gray, also to be directed by Manahan
- Romantic drama series “I Got You” starring Beauty Gonzales, RK Bagatsing and Yen Santos to be directed by Dan Villegas
- “Sunday Kada Kada Sunday” directed by Edgar Mortiz
The National Telecommunications Commission issued ABS-CBN a cease and desist order on May 5 which forced the network to downsize and halt various operations after the media giant failed to secure a new franchise from Congress.
70 lawmakers voted yes to deny ABS-CBN a new franchise.
ABS-CBN is now focusing on its other businesses that are independent of a legislative franchise and has loads of content online such as on YouTube, the iWant app, and cable TV.
Johnny Manahan, ABS-CBN’s Star Magic head and director previously said that the talent management was dealing with TV5 and GMA-7 stations to find projects for their roster of actors.
“Our artists had already been exploring opportunities in digital space. With the rejection of the franchise, cable and cyberspace became the only venues for network content,” he told Rappler.
“Almost immediately, instantaneously, advertising revenues began to dry up, projects canceled, contracts suspended. And with that, we began to look elsewhere for opportunities for our artists. Talks are currently underway with contacts from Channel 5 (TV5) and Channel 7 (GMA 7),” he added.
He also said those artists have the freedom to choose what to do with their careers.
“Our artists, once shackled to Channel 2, are now free to go where the work is. Now, truly, they are like gypsies.”
Star Magic will still be guiding their talents as much as possible, Manahan explained.
“We have been talking to our artists via Zoom to reassure them of our unwavering dedication to their professional and personal lives,” he said.
“We are not going the way of the franchise: down the toilet. Never to be seen again. Although depleted, Star Magic will still be around,” he added.
However, ABS-CBN’s entertainment head Lauren Dyogi revealed recently said that even before the shutdown, Kapamilya artists were already planning on working for other networks.
“Bago po mawalan kami ng prangkisa ay may mga ilan na pong artists ang nagpaalam na lumipat sa ibang network. Hindi naman po ito bago, sa mga nakaraang panahon ay nangyari na po ito at pinayagan naman po namin sila,” he said.
He said that this only proves how valuable Kapamilya artists are.
“It’s a compliment to us kasi dito po namin napapatunayan na ang aming mga Kapamilya stars ay de kalibre talaga at in-demand kaya hinahabol sila ng ibang agencies or management,” he said.
Even with the downsizing of operations, there are still artists who chose to stay with ABS-CBN.
“Ang mas maganda pong balitang natanggap namin marami rin po kaming nakausap na artista ang nagsasabi na they will stay loyal and they will stick out to the Kapamilya network hanggang ito po ay makabangon,” Dyogi said.
He also revealed that some artists and employees were fine with taking huge pay cuts in order to continue providing service to the public.
