TV5 to undergo reprogramming under new chief

PLDT Inc.-backed TV5, the country’s third largest television network, wants to bring entertainment programs back into the fold through a reprogramming initiative being pursed by its new CEO, Jane Basas.

Basas, who also heads affiliate Cignal TV, told reporters recently that TV5 was shifting its strategic focus while maintaining much of the sports and news pivot implemented by her predecessor, veteran basketball coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes, who stepped down in July this year.

“We need entertainment to make sure that we get more and more people to support the network,” Basas told reporters on the sidelines of a partnership event between the PLDT Group and Sibol, the Philippines’ national sports team during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Basas said TV5 would not produce its own shows but would tap Cignal TV’s original content and those of its partners.

“We are looking at the possibility of [CignalTV] block timing in TV5 so we can put Cignal’s content on the platform of TV5,” she said.

Cignal TV is a satellite TV operator with about 2.1 million subscribers. It plans to spend about P100 million yearly to produce original TV shows and movies, Vitto Lazatin, Cignal TV vice president, said in August.

Basas said TV5 would keep news programming shows while the prime-time block would continue to be dedicated to sports.

She explained that the “decision to go into sports has allowed us to become more efficient on how we program.”

So far, entertainment shows airing on TV5 are foreign movies dubbed in Filipino and TV5’s existing entertainment library, Basas said. New entertainment programs, which are still being finalized, will be added in the coming months.

Basas said entertainment shows would support TV5, which continued to be unprofitable and would likely end 2019 with a loss.

Basas, who is TV5’s fourth CEO since the broadcast network was acquired by the PLDT Group in 2009, said TV5’s financial performance has “improved on a year-on-year basis.”

“There’s a plan to transform TV5 into a profitable company,” Basas said. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS