TV5 up for another reboot

MANILA, Philippines — TV5 Network Inc. is up for another makeover next year in hopes of putting an end to its streak of losing money.

Jane Basas, who was appointed TV5 president and chief executive officer last July 1 to replace Vincent “Chot” Reyes, said she had proposed to the network’s board plans and strategies which would include another set of rebranding efforts that should bring the company to profitability in the next couple of years.  

“I’ve actually presented to the board some of the things that I like to do and because of the current struggles of the business when it comes to ratings, and correspondingly revenues. So an important pivot that we will do is, of course, we will still continue to offer sports, but we want to maximize the assets that we have, the airtime that we have by putting in more shows that more and more people will watch,” Basas told The STAR in an interview.

“So we’re actually going to transform it back to include entertainment as well. We have no choice. The majority of the Filipino viewing public still prefer to watch entertainment over sports. So we will do that overtime because there’s a lot of investments when it comes to entertainment content,” she said.

In 2017, TV5 partnered with multimedia sports entertainment giant ESPN to reposition itself as a sports and news channel. Prior to that, the network was producing its own entertainment programs and tapping big name celebrities with high talent fees.

Basas said even TV5 sister channel 5 Plus, formerly AksyonTV, which was rebranded early this year to provide non-mainstream sport and sport-related content, is also undergoing review.

“If you remember, what the previous management did was to transform TV5 and 5 Plus into a complementary sports channel and I’m still assessing whether strategically that makes sense because in my mind, in the absence of any solid research, it’s better from a monetization standpoint to have two separate genres if you have two separate channels because then you are able to address the needs of varied customers and, therefore, address the needs of varied advertisers as opposed to putting your bet in one basket, just solely on sports,” she said.

Basas said lot of the plans that she is seeking approval for would be happening next year, including a “big change.”

With all the strategies she intends to implement on the network, Basas said TV5 should become profitable by 2024.

“I believe that at least with the plans that I have put forward to my board, and with the efficiencies that I am trying to achieve, that by around 2022 we should at least generate a positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) and then two years down the road, hopefully by 2024, positive net income as a standalone business,” she said.

At present, however, Basas said TV5 continues to lose money.

“It will be difficult to turn around TV5 because of its history. It’s tough,” she said.

“So it continues to lose money and the strategy that we’re putting together, hopefully, will allow it a growth path towards profitability,” Basas said.