PTV4 to the fore

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) secretary Martin Andanar with President Rodrigo duterte (Photo from Andanar’s Instagram)

People’s Television Network (PTV-4) has undergone rebranding and it does not begin and end with the spanking new logo it sports, no sir.

According to Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) secretary Martin Andanar, PTV, currently broadcasting at 55,000 watts, shall increase to 120,000 watts by first quarter of 2019.

“The more power (watts), the more people can watch you. That way, we can keep pace with other TV networks in the Philippines,” he said in Filipino.

And get this: PTV’s social media engagements have grown from 20,000-30,000 followers to 1.4 million.

News programs will be airing from dawn till past dusk.

“We’ll have morning shows, newscast from morning, noontime, prime time (6 o’clock) till late night. We also have the newscast from Philippine News Agency (PNA) and programs that our President Rodrigo Duterte promised,” Andanar reiterated. These are “Salaam Television” for the Muslims and “Lumad TV” for the Lumads.

PTV-4 President and General Manager Dino Antonio Apolonio noted that “most of the news and public affair and public service shows are in-house production of PTV. It is our strong suit, although we’ll still be conceptualizing more in the future.”

Aside from those programs, the secretary said there will be block timers to enhance the variety of content.

Viewers will also be able to watch foreign shows from Japan, China and the re-airing of certain Koreanovelas from South Korea.

“We work with the entire Southeast Asian nations, also with other bigger countries,” Andanar said. PCOO’s Memorandum of Understanding includes Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, and Cambodia, then Thailand and Myanmar soon.

“These programs (from other countries) are free. The Philippines will not spend a single penny for it.”

He said these programs will help Filipinos learn about the culture of those countries, and get a glimpse of how they produce shows.
What programs from PTV-4 will be sent to foreign countries, we asked.

Apolonio said, “News. But mainly those locally produced documentaries here in the Philippines because it’s part of the cultural exchange. We are aiming for our neighbouring countries to know more about our culture.”

Since the network is taking a step forward, will they get prominent personalities to attract more audience?

“People always prefer the content (of a program). And I also believe in the current personalities that we have like Jojo (Alejar), Dianne (Medina) and Aljo Bendijo,” Andanar added

“President Duterte is always here to support PTV. He’s the biggest star,” Andanar explained.

PTV is partly subsidized by the government.