And it just may be for a reason many K-pop fans know by now.
If one would check on the Mnet K-pop channel on YouTube right now, it will be seen that only a handful of new content is available right now. Clips from shows like TMI News, Kingdom, and the music chart show M Countdown. However, for the lattermost, the core of the show is what’s missing on the channel.
A few clicks onto the playlists tab, one would be able to scroll through Mnet K-pop’s vast catalog of playlists. Upon checking on the M Countdown playlist, the performances are consistently uploaded each week and the said playlist is also updated accordingly.
But the biggest drawback for Filipino fans right now is the fact that whenever one clicks on the MCD stage videos, YouTube would display the following message: [t]he uploader has not made it available for your country. Upon which, the playlist would skip immediately to clips from the January 14, 2021 episode of the program.
This geoblocking is seen by many as a direct result of Philippine telco company Smart and pay TV operator Cignal’s acquisition of rights to broadcast M Countdown in the Philippines. Announced last January, the deal includes the livestreaming of the show every Thursday on Smart’s gigafest website and delayed television broadcast via Cignal TV channel Colours every Thursday and Sundays on free-to-air channel TV5.
Apart from that, the first MCD episode that aired on TV5 last January 31 was episode 695 or the one that originally aired in Korea on January 21st. With that, it is understood that the deal involving Smart-Cignal only covers editions from that date forward. Thus, resulting to the continued availability of the January 14 episode and those prior. M2 fancams and other related content are not part of the geo-restrictions and are still viewable.
For now, K-pop fans are only able to catch the show live via Smart gigafest every Thursday at 5:00pm. Those who have Cignal TV sets can watch MCD every Thursday at 4:00pm on Colours. Meanwhile, free TV viewers can see the entirety of the show every Sunday night at 11:00pm on TV5.
Trendrod remains open for TV5/Cignal and Smart’s comment regarding the matter.
2022 UPDATE: After the closure of Cignal TV’s Colours channel, M Countdown is now only available on television on a two-week delay basis via TV5 every Sunday at 10pm — with livestreaming on the Cignal Play app. Meanwhile, Smart gigaplay (no longer gigafest) provides the live broadcast on the app every Thursday at 5:00pm.