The move was both a result of and a phase in the local noontime TV shake-up that took almost a year to complete.
On June 30, 2023, ABS-CBN’s longest-running noontime show ‘It’s Showtime’ aired its final episode on TV5, which had been its other free-to-air home since July 16, 2022.
During its last episode on the Kapatid network, the hosts led by Vice Ganda put up a segment in the last portion of the program to express their gratitude to TV5 for giving ‘Showtime’ a home for almost a year through a blocktime agreement between the station and the Kapamilya network.
The following day, ‘It’s Showtime’ premiered on GMA’s secondary channel GTV, while maintaining its simultaneous broadcast on free-to-air channel A2Z and on pay television via the Kapamilya Channel.
Meanwhile, in lieu of ‘Showtime,’ TV5 welcomed to its noontime block the trio of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon (TVJ), along with the rest of their ‘Dabarkads’ when it aired the pilot episode of ‘E.A.T.’ also on July 1, 2023.
After the end of Television and Production Exponents (TAPE), Inc.’s noontime show ‘Tahanang Pinakamasaya’ on GMA-7, ABS-CBN entered into another agreement with their erstwhile rival network in March 2024.
Aside from airing on GTV, ‘It’s Showtime’ began broadcasting on the main GMA channel last April 6 — and in effect, also taking over the very time slot that TVJ once had occupied on the network from 1995 to 2023.