Kapuso Vs Kapamilya: Network giants locked in bitter ratings battle

Network giants ABS-CBN and GMA are once again locked in bitter combat. This time it’s over alleged rigging of TV ratings results.

The Kapamilya network fired the first salvo, claiming that data from TVs in homes wired to AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines had been doctored to make it appear that fewer viewers were tuned in to ABS-CBN. The Lopez network further alleged that GMA was behind the rigging, and that it has a witness who was a party to the foul deed. ABS-CBN promptly filed a case in court to stop AGB Nielsen from continuing its ratings surveys.

GMA countered by filing a libel suit against its Kapuso rival over what it said were false allegations of ratings manipulation.

The controversy has a detective-story flavor. As ABS-CBN spokesman Bong Osorio tells it, the informant alleged that he was hired by another TV network to bribe metered households in Bacolod City with gifts and cash to switch to a different channel and thus influence TV ratings in that area.

GMA’s legal counsel Dick Perez said the network’s lawyers found libelous the report made by ABS-CBN radio reporter Junrie Hidalgo on the claimed manipulation.

I don’t see a quick resolution to this latest skirmish between the Kapamilya and Kapuso clans. Networks take the ratings war seriously. Each percentage points count and spell the difference between a smash hit and a dud.

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There was nothing malicious with her column on Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby seen together at a hotel coffee shop. That was how Lolit Solis defended herself from the P12-million libel suit filed by the two actors. Lolit submitted her 11-page counter-affidavit last week at the Manila Prosecutor’s Office.

Piolo and Sam alleged that they were portrayed as “gay men” in Lolit’s column Take It, Take It that appeared in Pilipino Star Ngayon last October 15. The article, they said, was meant “to discredit our reputation as bankable artists.”

Lolit said the suit should be dropped because the two actors are both public figures.

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We’ve long got wind of the buzz that Ara Mina was moving over to ABS-CBN. Last week she finally did. She’ll be joining the cast of Prinsesa ng Banyera.

Ara says GMA tried to keep her from jumping ship by making a counter-offer. “They offered me a role of a mother in a prime-time teleserye. I said I don’t fit in the role because I’m not yet a mother. So they offered me a new role. But it was too late because I already said yes to ABS-CBN.”

Ara says she hasn’t said goodbye to the cast of Bubble Gang because they’re not resuming taping until January 3.

She finds her role in Prinsesa ng Banyera challenging. “It’s a bit sexy.”

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The latest shocker from Hollywood: Britney Spears’ sister, Jamie Lynn, is pregnant. Shocker because Jamie Lynn is only 16 years old and she is portrayed as a role model for kids in Nickelodeon’s school-based drama Zoey 101.

News about the pregnancy first came out in OK! Magazine. Now the parents for Jamie Lynn’s young fans are at a loss explaining the whole thing to their children. A concerned mom posted this message on a web message board: “When the news splashed across the Today Show that Jamie Lynn was pregnant, my 12-year-old son was totally shocked. The first words out of his mouth were, ‘Mom, she’s only like 16 years old.’ We then discussed certain choices people make for themselves.’’

Already some parents are reportedly taking out Zoey 101 from their kids’ viewing schedule.

Jamie Lynn has reportedly said she’s keeping the baby.