It’s been a year since that day.
On July 1, 2023, viewers saw the seismic change in the noontime landscape of Philippine television.
ABS-CBN’s longest-running noontime program ‘It’s Showtime’ was seen for the first time on GTV, a television channel owned by their now-erstwhile rival GMA Network.
‘Showtime’s’ GTV simulcast began the day after they bade farewell to TV5, which had served as their free-to-air home from July 16, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon (known as TVJ) and their legion of ‘Legit Dabarkads’ made the big switch to TV5, more than a month after their departure from Television and Production Exponents (TAPE), Inc. in May 2023.
Initially, they used the placeholder title ‘E.A.T.,’ while a legal battle against TAPE was initiated by the TVJ group over the rights to use the title ‘Eat Bulaga’ — originally created by Joey de Leon himself.
While the legal case was ongoing, TAPE’s noontime program on GMA-7 continued airing as ‘Eat Bulaga’ with hosts led by Paolo Contis, Betong Sumaya, Buboy Villar, among others.
The National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM) of Nielsen Philippines indicated that the television ratings on that day was in favor of ‘E.A.T.,’ which scored 8.4%.
Coming in second was ‘It’s Showtime’ on GTV that logged 4.5%, while ‘Eat Bulaga’ on GMA recorded a 2.6% TV rating that placed it to the third spot.