Public affairs shows sacrificed to cut ABC 5’s financial losses

JUST when Filipinos’ limited serious TV viewing fare has been perked up by notable public affairs shows that don’t force them to stay up late at night, a report by ABS-CBN the other day heralded the axing of ABC 5’s “Frontlines” and “Dokyu.”

For the shows’ regular viewers, the news came as a big surprise. “Frontlines,” introduced in August last year, has only logged a good one and a half seasons. “Dokyu,” which had been on air much longer, had managed to last for more than three seasons.

But the initial shock eventually gave way to suspicions, especially with the way the news was played up by ABS-CBN. It was insinuated in the report that the two shows have been singled out for their supposed “hard-hitting comments against the Arroyo administration.” (The initial report ran under the headline “Anti-Arroyo TV shows taken off air.”)

As if to invite further speculations, the report hinted at the possibility, buttressed by quotes from Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, that businessman Antonio “Tony Boy” Cojuangco, owner of Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC), ordered the shows’ cancellation in an apparent gesture to appease Malacañang.

Cojuangco, it will be recalled, was implicated in the alleged destabilization plot against the government last February that would have resulted in a “withdrawal of support” by elements of the military led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

The network was also accused of helping produce the supposed video of the former chief of the Army’s elite Scout Rangers exhorting soldiers to withdraw support from Arroyo.

To bolster its theory that the ABC 5 owner is taking the heat from the Arroyo administration, the report also cited the case of Newsbreak, which recently ceased publishing to venture online. After all, it was Cojuangco who provided seed capital to — and placed advertisements with — the cash-strapped investigative magazine.

The management of ABC 5 quickly issued a statement to dispel the allegations in ABS-CBN’s story. The cancellation of the said shows, it said, is “merely part of overall business strategy to discontinue programs that are not achieving their ratings targets.” The matter, it added, is internal to the company.

So is the issue one of politics or economics? Unfortunately, with nothing much to back it up, the ABS-CBN report could only have engaged in a reckless exercise in speculative journalism.

Because as it turns out, it’s not just “Frontlines” and “Dokyu” that got the ABC 5 management’s axe. The TV network has in fact cancelled its entire public affairs programming. And the reasons are more financial than political, with insiders pointing to ABC 5’s heavy monetary losses in recent years.

What is being singled out is the network’s disastrous staging of “Philippine Idol,” the local spin-off of the talent search show from Fremantle Media’s hugely successful Idol series. “Philippine Idol” is said to have cost ABC 5 over P100 million. The show fell miserably short of 10 percent of target ratings, settling for an average of less than three percent and losing upwards of P50 million.

An insider, who said that they were informed two days ago of the cancellation of the public affairs shows, illustrated the dire financial state that ABC 5 is in. “Some of the staff have not been paid for months. We could not even pay for paper supply and Internet connection of our computers.”

The source likewise dismissed management’s plans regarding new and trailblazing programming — ranging from a 24-hour newscast to mobile TV — that will be launched in the next few months, saying that they don’t have enough reporters and equipment to cover the beats.

As it is, Cojuangco is being blamed for the way he has been managing the network. As one source commented: “He is out of the loop. He’s never there.” Another insider said Cojuangco is known to abandon a project as soon as he finds a new one that consumes his interest. “It’s like dealing with toys,” the source said.

Another well-placed source, however, claimed that the failure to meet target ratings is a “lame, false excuse” for the axing of the public affairs shows. The source disclosed that ABC 5 hardly ever sets ratings targets. In fact, the network does not even set revenue targets, which, the source said, “defies business sense.”

Some public affairs programs at times rate higher than entertainment shows, which traditionally are expected to rate better, the source pointed out.

“Many entertainment programs produced in the past few years that cost the company an arm and a leg never took off,” disclosed the same source. “These shows were nonetheless allowed to run a full season, were even renewed, and were not publicly declared as failing to meet ratings and revenue targets.”

That is why Ali Sotto, who is the erstwhile host of “Ali” and “Metro” (which she co-hosted with John Susi), has every reason to feel bad that public affairs shows have been sacrificed.

“Why place the blame on us when we haven’t been remiss in our work. We work hard on the quality of the shows. We’ve even won awards for the station,” she said.

Sotto received the best public affairs program host award for “Ali” at the 2006 Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Golden Dove Awards. The show, which went on air in November 2005, has also received a special citation from the Catholic Mass Media Awards.

Last year, “Dokyu” was named the KBP’s best documentary program. “Real Stories” hosted by former senator Loren Legarda was the recipient of the best public affairs show award a year earlier.

Though more into public service, Sotto’s show had tried to accommodate the “infotainment” format to present it with a more masa appeal. Still, she wondered why episodes where she guested celebrities like Sharon Cuneta, Dolphy, and Angel Locsin did not merit any commercial load.

In the case of co-productions like “Real Stories,” they even had to source their own advertisements just to keep airing.

“You should put your money where your mouth is,” lamented Sotto. “If you want quality shows, support them.”

It’s rare in the history of Philippine television for public service programs to rate so well. In fact, they are not supposed to rate at all as it was the belief then that television networks carried with them the social responsibility to provide public service — the airwaves being part of the public domain — by airing programs that inform, educate, and contribute to a better understanding of social issues.

That was, of course, the situation until “Hoy! Gising!” came along. “Hoy! Gising!” was ABS-CBN’s popular 30-minute public affairs program which aired for about a decade beginning in 1992 to provide immediate attention and action on everyday urban problems, typified by what its producers called then the BLT (basura, lubak, trapik) formula.

No thanks to ABS-CBN’s reengineering of the concept, public affairs shows have eventually been transformed into glamorous and glitzy productions — typified by “Hoy! Gising!”‘s emphasis on attitude rather than depth or substance — in order to rate.

For a time, ABC 5 was able to demonstrate — and for which it should be commended — that public affairs shows can be made immune to the commercial pressures for them to rate or sell. That time is now over. With its recent business decision to do away with its public affairs programming to partially address its financial bleeding, the network that prides itself with being iba (different) has only shown itself to be no different.

And, as usual, it’s the Filipino televiewing public that ends up as losers.