TV5 needs ‘One More’ channel

And they need to have ‘One’ sooner.

Late last year, TV5 bagged a bunch of sporting rights, the most notable of which are those that used to be covered by ABS-CBN Sports like the UAAP, Premier Volleyball League, and the NBA. Around that time, the network’s grid was still being rebuilt, and much of channel 5’s airtime is still rather open, thanks to the temporary movie blocks in their schedule.

But, it was already obvious by November that an entertainment-centric TV5 is bound to happen anytime. Thus, One Sports stepped in and was announced to become the major free TV coveror of the abovementioned tournaments, along with the PBA and ONE FC. To complement further, One Sports+ on Cignal was also mentioned to be an additional platform for UAAP and PVL, NBA TV Philippines was launched for NBA, and PBA Rush continues to carry all games of its namesake league.

As 2021 came, TV5 did a massive overhaul in its programming department, and now boasts more entertainment shows than what it had between 2018-2019. Apart from that, the Kapatid network also struck a deal with ABS-CBN to carry the latter’s primetime and Sunday noontime offerings on the former. Apart from that, TV5 also has an existing partnership with Viva, Brightlight, Archangel Media, among others. By May, the first phase of the transformation culminated with the launch of Iba sa 5 campaign.

Despite Iba sa 5, TV5 vowed to continue broadcasting PBA games in the same quantity that it had in the 45th season. Meaning, 2 games every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday will be broadcasted by the network. While the rest of the matches from other days will be on One Sports and PBA Rush.

On July 17, the PBA was due to have its tripleheader game day aired on One Sports. Unfortunately for them, the PVL also opened its newest season on the same day. As that date fell on a Saturday, TV5 was unavailable to serve as a spillover channel for either leagues as the priority for the said day goes to the weekend entertainment shows of the station.

Left without a choice, One Sports opted to drop the tripleheader PBA in exchange of the PVL opening day. Affected PBA games were later carried live by PBA Rush and on Cignal Play’s livestreaming and via a delayed telecast on TV5 at Sunday, 1:00am. Due to the sudden change loyal PBA fans and viewers complained at the setup and were rather confused by the setup being implemented by the broadcaster, as reported by SPIN.ph in this article.

So, in order to prevent further problems, TV5 and Cignal TV need to have a workaround. Perhaps, a new DTT channel can just be the solution that they’re looking for.

Why not use One PH?

First of all, “why create a new channel when they could just utilize One PH (which is also on digital TV),” you may ask.

With the scheduling issue now being experienced on One Sports and to a degree, TV5, putting One PH in the same position as its two other sisters could potentially cause it to experience the same fate as AksyonTV had in 2013. Hence, rulling the channel out as an option this early is necessary.

Here comes One More

To keep things in line with TV5/Cignal’s slate of channels, it could be potentially called as ‘One More‘, to reflect the channel’s possible programming grid that will be discussed later into this blog. One More can also be meant as having an additional option for loyal and casual viewers alike. It should also be noted that moving forward, the suggested channel will also be called as One More.

Foremost, One More can be utilized as an spillover channel during hectic sporting seasons, like what is being experienced by the network right now. Through One More, other matches unable to be carried by either TV5 and One Sports can still be accessible on free TV, albeit in the digital spectrum. This would also help reduce frustration for non-Cignal or Smart subscribers that are only interested to view their favorite sports programs carried by the Kapatid network.

Next, on non-sporting days or hours, One More can be easily transformed to either a quasi-movie channel or a mix of news and entertainment to complement both One PH and One Sports. To give you a clear understanding of that, here’s how the schedule for One More could be.

Weekdays

8:00am – TV5 Kids simulcast
10:30am – Movie
12:00nn – One Balita Pilipinas
12:30pm – Movie
2:00pm – One More Time: Archived TV5/Cignal shows
3:00pm – One More Time: Archived TV5/Cignal shows / can be preempted for sports
5:00pm – Movie / can be preempted for sports
7:00pm – Movie / can be preempted for sports
9:00pm – Archived TV5/Cignal shows
10:00pm – The Chiefs replay
11:00pm – Wag Po! replay
12:00mn – Off Air

Weekends

8:00am – Children’s programming block
12:00nn – Movie
2:00pm – Movie
4:00pm – Movie
6:00pm – Movie
8:00pm – Movie
10:00pm – Movie
12:00mn – Off Air

Having no originating program from One More can be beneficial financially and in the perspective of programming. Easily preempting shows as needed will not cause much problem, especially if those are already available on other existing channels or are only repeats of those. Moreover, One More can also serve as an alternative to those who want to do away from the contents aired on 5, One Sports, and even One PH.

Meanwhile, the cost of operating the channel would be the only primary concern, with programs being ported not setting the management back much, as those are already shouldered by other channels within the TV5/Cignal network.

Another option for One More is to become a pop-up digital TV channel for TV5. That would simply mean that OM would only sign on every time it is needed, with the channel being shut during days that it is not utilized. Also, in that kind of system, its channel space is saved, with DTT viewers no longer required to rescan their boxes each time One More reopens. It also makes sense to do that as marketing for a certain program or sports match that will be aired by One More won’t cause alot of burden as viewers would immediately know where the channel is.

Either way, One More would be of great help for the channel to solve their current programming woes. A problem that could only further complicate with the subsequent broadcasts of leagues like the UAAP and specials as big as the Olympics.

Thus, setting up ‘One More’ channel on digital TV is one of the best ways for Cignal and TV5 to have one less problem now and even in the foreseeable future.