Of course, the TV5 and ABS-CBN’s partnership and investments are still the hot topic of the business and entertainment worlds.
Just a refresher, last Thursday, Cignal Cable Corp. (Cignal Cable) entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Sky Vision Corporation (Sky Vision), ABS-CBN Corporation (ABS-CBN) and Lopez, Inc. for the acquisition of 38.88 percent of Sky Cable at around P2.862 Billion. On the other hand, ABS-CBN will acquire 34.99 percent of TV5 for P2.16B and the deal is set to come into fruition by the end of this month.
So, what does this mean? ABS-CBN is committed to upping the ante of the content at TV5 since it holds as the free-to-air vessel. Since the lockdowns, TV5 has been open to working with many production houses and creatives in the industry and ABS-CBN investing in the network is welcome news to the stars.
Maja Salvador, who grew her career in the Kapamilya channel, is now an Eat, Bulaga regular dabarkad, but she is also TV5’s Queen of Primetime, having had a successful show Niña Niño and now, the sitcom Oh My Korona. “Yay! Yay! Iyan lang ang masasabi ko! Panalo tayo rito. Mas maraming trabaho para sa nakararami,” she said.
Maja’s leading man in Wildflower and now Oh My Korona RK Bagatsing added, “Iba iyong feeling kapag iba’t-ibang creatives ang nakaka-trabaho mo. Humuhusay ka at marami kang natututunan. Sana tuloy tuloy na talaga ito.”
Kakai Bautista, who is a freelance star and appears in all networks, said, “Iba iyong saya ng nakaka-ikot ka. Ang dami mong nagagawa. Hindi ka nakakahon. Sana ma-experience ng buong industriya iyong pakiramdam na kahit sino posibleng makatrabaho mo.”
Besides TV5, ABS-CBN, since losing its franchise, has entered into various deals with Bright Light, GMA and A2Z, which helped it air high-quality shows. Even though GMA has a full lineup of programs and creatives, it still welcomed ABS-CBN Star Cinema’s most popular movies. The channels are slowly breaking the network wars and becoming vessels for industry creatives and producers to air better programs.
If you ask the veteran stars, who have been superstars in the industry before the Kapamilya, Kapuso and Kapatid became a thing, they just cannot wait for the situation to go back to how it was during the ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Janice de Belen shared, “Alam mo dati, mga programa lang naglalaban. Hindi network! Hindi naman uso network war noon! Nakakatuwa talaga na nangyayari ito uli ngayon kasi ang audience at mga nagtatrabaho sa industriya ang panalo rito. Happy lahat.”
This new landscape will also improve the quality of shows and showcase more original storytelling and formats. The new airtime slots that freely opened in broadcast for producers to pitch in just means that may the best content win.