The first year of the month has seen a seismic shift in the local TV landscape.
In his interview with the Philippine Entertainment Portal, business tycoon Manny Pangilinan weighed in on the end of the partnership between his network, TV5, and media giant ABS-CBN.
The two networks ended their nearly five-year-long partnership last January 1 after a widely-publicized rift over unpaid financial obligations in December.
Pangilinan was quited saying, “Wala na, tapos na yon. It’s regretful, but it is what it is, right?“
The billionaire then stressed that despite the end of their content agreement, the Kapatid network remains open to collaborating with ABS-CBN and even rival station GMA.
He said, “TV5 got to work with content houses, which ABS is one of them, and [it’s] a major content house. We’re prepared to continue working with them as a content provider and with the other content houses, including possibly even GMA. We could work together in some of the content.”
After which, he mentioned what he had previously stated in the report of News5, where he noted the local TV industry being “too small to be overly competitive.”
RATINGS GAME
Meanwhile, it has been a rather eventful month in the TV ratings game as observers and network fans equally awaited the results of the affiliation switch of ABS-CBN’s primetime shows from TV5 to ALLTV, which now carries the Kapamilya Channel branding as part of a licensing agreement, on top of the A2Z simulcast.
Moreover, it is also the first time in nearly five years that TV5 will be doing standalone programming, with its content drawing upon its own MQuest Ventures production outfit, News5, and other partners like Viva Entertainment.
As early as January 2, the first day of Kapamilya Channel on ALLTV2, the effects have started to show.
Comparing it to the TV rating (based on Nielsen’s National Urban Television Audience Measurement), the episode ABS-CBN series FPJ’s Batang Quiapo on December 22, 2025 saw TV5 score 5.9%.
As for the Coco Martin-led series’ successor on the 8:00 pm slot of the Kapatid network, Totoy Bato, it performed a modest 3.8% on January 2, 2026—the first night after the breakup.
However, in recent nights, there has been a consistent trend, where the TV5 show’s ratings only hovered around the 1% mark.
For example, last Monday, January 19, Totoy Bato got 1.5% (combined with ratings of the One PH simulcast), with 1.3% coming from TV5 viewers.
Meanwhile, ALLTV, which used to score miniscule figures, had already surpassed it following the shift of Batang Quiapo.
According to data available, the channel has scored 2.0% that same evening, while A2Z delivered the huge chunk of the audience with 4.3%, followed by Kapamilya Channel at 2.6%.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, January 21, the night of the PBA semi-finals, Totoy Bato logged 0.8%, nearly eight times below of the figures that Batang Quiapo used to have when it was still airing on the channel.
Amid the recent lows and as TV5 is still preparing its slate of original dramas on primetime, the network decided to reair its past collaborations with ABS-CBN, namely Nag-aapoy na Damdamin and Pira-Pirasong Paraiso, every weekday evening.
Although, as it stood, the rebroadcast of both shows have not made an impact, with the game being a duel still being stuck between ABS-CBN and GMA.
In fact, TV5’s sister station RPTV’s broadcast of the semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) even scored between 2 to 3% in the ratings game in the last few days.
CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP, MVP HANDS-ON
As the major television breakup’s effect continues to send shockwaves across the industry, especially TV5, Manny Pangilinan had already begun to take matters into his own hands.
In a previous report by News5, he confirmed that he is already directly involved in the programming of the station, having met with executives multiple times over the course of two weeks after its partnership with ABS-CBN ended.
What TV5 exactly has in store for viewers, such as the new programming mix, has yet to be announced. Although, previously revealed offerings for the year include serial titles like The Kingdom: Magkabilang Mundo, The Good Doctor, A Secret In Prague, and My Bespren Emman.
In the same way, it is still unknown who will be in charge next of the larger MediaQuest group, which owns TV5, Cignal TV, and True FM, among other assets.
Earlier this month, it was reported that its president and CEO Jane Basas had already stepped down in the aftermath of the breakup.
No confirmations have been made since then, although TV host Willie Revillame confirmed this in his press conference for his show Wilyonaryo, citing it as the reason behind him being limited to online only as of the moment.
Wilyonaryo was supposed to be part of TV5’s primetime slate, but was ultimately dropped due to its licensed gaming component.
WHAT’S ON TV5 PRIMETIME NOW
At present, Kapatid viewers will continue to get a supersized line-up of news programs, on top of the mentioned entertainment shows every weeknight.
Una Sa Lahat and Frontline Pilipinas air for two and a half hours from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, while the late-evening newscast Frontline Tonight airs back-to-back with documentaries from One News from 10:15 to 11:30 pm—which is just 15 minutes short of four hours in total, the longest for any major station in the country.
The music show Vibe Nights, meanwhile, anchors the rather unstable weekday block at 11:30 pm.
As of this writing, here is how the still-subject-to-changes weekday evening block of TV5 looks like.
- 5:30 pm – Una Sa Lahat
- 6:15 pm – Frontline Pilipinas
- 8:00 pm – Totoy Bato
- 8:45 pm – Nag-aapoy Na Damdamin
- 9:30 pm – Pira-Pirasong Paraiso
- 10:15 pm – Frontline Tonight
- 11:00 pm – Documentaries
- 11:30 pm – Vibe Nights