Robinsons Place Ormoc Grand Opening Celebration preview

No other than Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres and Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez along with daughter Juliana, Robi Domingo, Arjo Atayde, Enchong Dee, Johan Aguilar, LA Aguinaldo, Jo Ann Bitagcol, Rhett Eala, Maxine Medina, Tessa Prieto-Valdez, Tessa Alindogan, Pam Pastor, Tetta Agustin, Christian Baverey; Liza Ilarde, AA Patawaran, Angelette Calero, Jodilly Pendre, Leah Puyat, Nikita McElroy, Robert Caguimbal, Marissa Tambunting, Raph Robes, Michelle Panemanglor, Justine Gabionza, Rajo Laurel, Patrice Ramos-Diaz, Luke Jickain, Dennysse Pendilla; Keren Pascual, Lou Muñoz, Renz Pangilinan, Cats del Rosario, Anton Barretto, Alaiza Malinao, Ana de Ocampo, Rick Calderon, Jan Lynch Imbat, Miko Raval, Sidney Yap, Nicole Cordoves, Eds Genuino, Jack Alindahao, Andrea Manzano, Joyce Ocampo, Franchesca Lagua, Ana Sideco, Robby Carmona, Charlene Escaler, Juan Carlo Villanueva, Javi Cang, Kim Cruz, Carlos Laurel, Hannah Locsin and Luigi Pumaren would be here tomorrow.

Pascual, along with architect Miguel Pastor and chairman and founder of Suyen Corporation and executive creative director of Bench Ben Chan will be accompanied by Dee, Aguinaldo, Aguilar, Berino 

TV5 shifts to sports, assures no cutback on employment

MANUEL V. Pangilinan-led TV5 Network Inc. guaranteed on Tuesday that there will be no retrenchment of its people as the company had repositioned itself as a predominantly sports and news channel.

In a sideline interview during ESPN5’s launching of “Live Boxing Month” for its sports events and shows lineup in May, TV5 President Vincent “Chot” Reyes told reporters they expect no more cuts in jobs within the organization, given the stability of their business at present.

“So, hopefully, this is it. There are no plans in the horizon; nothing in the near future because, like I said, I think, we have now a good complement of manpower to take us where we want,” he said.

Currently, TV5 employs about 700 people from almost double that number a couple of years ago.

“And it’s not like we were letting go of people. It’s just that because we’re no longer doing a lot of the entertainment stuff and all of it, so it’s a very natural process,” he added.

Since the third-leading television network in the country announced last year its transition from entertainment to sports channel, the top executive bared the encouraging feedback of the viewing public.

“As you know that response is really going to be measured by the revenue that’s generated. And, like I said, the kind of advertising money that we’re able to generate so far has been. We’ve been able to hit our targets,” he said.

Without divulging exact figures, Reyes said they have met their goals for airtime revenue and operating expenses in the first quarter of 2018.

He admitted, though, that some of their financial indicators “have been a little bit below” their targets, or just “a very small margin.”  Overall, the first three months remain to be “a very encouraging start,” according to the TV5 president, considering they are expecting to further cut their losses by half this year just to break even next year.

“The target by the end of 2019 [is that] we could hopefully achieve the breakeven already,” Reyes added. “We want to cut it by 50 percent from last year.”

The company’s net loss improved by 43 percent in 2017 compared to 2016.

While they are meeting their goals with current properties, he said that they are not complacent to rest on these achievements.

“We have to constantly come up with new properties to get a bigger slice of that pie the revenue. That’s why something like this is very important for us,” he noted, while referring to hard-hitting lineup of action-packed programming next month to the delight of Filipino fighting fans.

On May 13 ESPN5 will air live world-class pugilistic action from morning to late evening. Kicking off the festivities at 10 a.m. will be the live telecast of the world lightweight championship bout between Jorge Linares versus pound-for-pound great Vasyl Lomachenko.

Later at 3 p.m. is the “Survival Instinct,” a solid boxing card featuring the top fighters from Coach Joven Jimenez’s Survival Camp headlined by 2012 Rio Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga against Mexico’s Gabriel Mendoza in an International Boxing Federation minimumweight world title eliminator. The emerging winner of this fight will be the challenger to Japan’s Hiroto Kyoguchi, the reigning IBF minimumweight champion.

Also seeing action will be several top Pinoy fighters, namely, featherweight AJ “Bazooka” Banal, “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona, and recent world-title challenger Genesis Servania. Boxing aficionados will be treated to some of sports history’s greatest knockouts wth ESPN5’s “Greatest Fights,” airing every Tuesday and Thursday.

Film and sports fans can see Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky 1 to 5 every Saturday. The exclusive matchup of IBF super-flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas, who will defend his belt against countryman and mandatory challenger Jonas Sultan in Las Vegas, will also be aired on ESPN5.

Launched in October last year, ESPN5 is the cobranded channel between TV5 and ESPN. This forms part of the local broadcasting firm’s thrust leaning toward a sports network. Other business properties of the company include News5, DIgital5 and Studio5.

Pascual, Chan and Pastor at Robinsons Place Ormoc grand opening celebration

PR impresario and Keren Pascual, BENCH/ founder Ben Chan and Miguel Pastor, along with Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez and Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez and celebrities such as Arjo Atayde, Enchong Dee, LA Aguinaldo, Johansen Aguilar, Gian Berino and brother Gerard

GMA Network’s income fell 30% in 2017 in absence of political ads

GMA Network Inc. said Tuesday net income fell 30 percent in 2017 in the absence of election-related spending.

The broadcast network said net income amounted to P2.55 billion last year, down from P3.64 billion in 2016 which received a boost from the national elections.

“Following a banner year in 2016 with the windfall of nearly P1.5 billion from the last national elections and compounded by contraction in the ad spend of major industry players this year, GMA Network and subsidiaries nevertheless managed to exceed prior year’s top line in terms of recurring sales,” GMA Network said.

The company said consolidated revenues also dropped 8 percent in 2017 to P15.34 billion from P16.67 billion in 2016, as airtime sales decreased 10 percent to  P13.60 billion from P15.13 billion.

GMA Network said the shortfall in airtime revenues from both television and radio operations was partly cushioned by the improvement in other revenue streams which grew 13 percent last year.

“Without the one-time boost from political advocacies and advertisements this year, nearly all airtime revenue-generating platforms’ top-line performance paled in comparison to 2016. Core channel, GMA-7 which comprised about 81 percent of the consolidated revenues registered the biggest drop among airtime-revenue platforms with a setback of 10 percent compared to last year,” the listed company said.

“Sans the impact of more than a billion worth of non-recurring political load, the channel stood flat against last year’s tally in terms of recurring placements,” it said.

Consolidated operating expenses rose 2 percent in 2017 to P11.81 billion from P11.59 billion in 2016. Production cost and talent fees which comprised 55 percent of total consolidated operating expenses amounted to P6.43 billion, up 1 percent from 2016.

GMA said that in terms of television ratings, it led its main competitor in nationwide urban TV ratings in 2017 with an average people audience share of 42.5 percent, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 36.8 percent.

Overall, the Network dominated NUTAM's list of top programs for 2017 with 20 out of 30 programs coming from GMA. Reigning supreme in the list is the well-loved Kapuso primetime series Encantadia, which became the number one program for two consecutive years.

Award-winning magazine program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho grabbed the second spot as the most-watched Kapuso program for the year followed by the Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza-starrer Destined To Be Yours.

Joining them in the list of most watched Kapuso shows were "Pepito Manaloto," "Magpakailanman," "Full House Tonight," "Celebrity Bluff," "24 Oras," "Super Ma'am," "Mulawin vs Ravena," "Alyas Robin Hood," "Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko," and "All-Star Videoke."

Also included were "My Love From the Star," "Kambal Karibal," "Meant To Be," "I Heart Davao," "My Korean Jagiya," "Kapuso Movie Night," "Bubble Gang," "Saksi," "24 Oras Weekend," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Hay Bahay!," "Wowowin," "Eat Bulaga," "Sunday PinaSaya," "Dear Uge," "Ika-6 Na Utos," "Legally Blind," "Impostora," "D'Originals," "Haplos," "Karelasyon," "Tadhana" and "Tsuperhero."

Notably, GMA's exclusive free TV telecast of Manny Pacquiao's last fight, dubbed the "Battle of Brisbane: Pacquiao vs Horn", was the most watched TV special for the year.

More Filipinos also tuned in to GMA’s live telecast of President Rodrigo Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 24. GMA Network’s “SONA 2017” became the most watched coverage nationwide with 37.4 percent people audience share; outranking ABS-CBN’s “Pangako ng Pagbabago: SONA 2017,” which only got 34.3 percent. GMA-7’s coverage registered an even bigger margin in Urban Luzon with 43.2 percent people audience share versus competition’s 26.2 percent.

The broadcast network said it once again “proved to be the Filipino viewers’ network of choice” as the GMA-7’s live telecast of the Miss Universe 2016 pageant on January 30 rated highest nationwide with a 57.1% people audience share, higher than ABS-CBN’s 28% and TV5’s 8.4%.