Serna: Network battle for viewers’ attention

Friday, July 1, 2011

IT'S the first day of July and that means we have just started the second half of the year. A few eye blinks more and we’ll be find ourselves facing the end of the year.

Too fast, huh! So we need to keep up with the pace, too, otherwise we’ll be left far behind.

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One of the big events this month is the first draw of the Shop for Scholarship Raffle Promo of Gaisano Main, Country Mall, Bogo and Balamban on July 16, which brings to Cebu two of the hottest male young stars from the two big networks.

They are ABS-CBN’s Robi Domingo and GMA 7’s Enzo Pineda. They’ll be at the Balamban Town Center at 3:30 p.m. and at the Country Mall at 8:30 p.m. The promo gives out 12 one-full-year free tuition plus thousands worth of cash and gift certificates for books and uniform allowance.

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It’s but natural for one to wish to standout anywhere, including inside a classroom or a workplace. As a beauty expert, engineer Jun Esma sees the need to cater to numerous clients at this time of the year. Naturally, students and workers want to look their best as classes go in full swing and the workplace is abuzz with activities that meet year-round demands.

There is a promo starting on July 15 for services like hair coloring, rebonding and retouching jobs. Services for “virgin hair” are even priced lower.

Creative haircuts are given free for major services. Hair and make-up clients for in-salon services are done by Jun himself who proudly says that “a beautiful you always comes with a beautiful mind.”

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Marcelito Pomoy of Cavite bagged the Pilipinas Got Talent Season 2 (PGT) grand prize last Sunday. The Happy Feet duo of brothers Ramonito and Lolito Mata, and the Freestylers group romped off with the second and third prizes, respectively.

Coming from a dysfunctional family, Marcelito’s statement after receiving his prize was: “Sana mapatawad natin ang isa’t isa dahil tao lang po tayo (I hope we can forgive each other)” or something like that.

Well said. Forgiving is not easy. In fact, it’s said to be a gift. PGT resident judge Kris Aquino could only say: “Bongga!”

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After weeks of being the subject of a guessing game of sorts, the lady who’ll be Atty. Ruphil Bañoc’s co-anchor in TV5’s Aksyon Bisaya was finally revealed. This happened last Saturday during the presscon at the Radisson Blu.

The pretty lady is Darlanne Sino-Cruz who once appeared on GMA 7 Cebu’s local news program. Darlanne said Atty. Bañoc will be the voice of the masses while she would be the heart.

Bañoc did not reveal his strategy in competing with the more established TV news personalities from other networks. He said it would be both secrecy and a surprise he’ll be using. He can still be heard on dyHP despite his new work on television.

The revitalized Cebu channel’s news program will premier on July 18. Meanwhile,
Aksyon Alerto will provide newsbreaks once in a while. It will be handled by former Sugbo TV field reporter Dennis Tanoc. Good luck, folks!

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Kapatid Network’s EVP and COO Roberto Barrero says that the aksyon (action) factor involves coming up with follow ups on news items, especially news about problems from a certain sector of society and how these will be solved in the coming days.

This includes holding some people accountable and calling the attention of concerned government agencies, among others. This prevents a particular news item from being relegated to oblivion or from “fading out” without seeing any resolution.

TV5’s Manila news personalities, like Erwin and Raffy Tulfo, Paolo Bediones, Cheryl Cosim, Martin Andanar and Amelyn Veloso, came over to attend the week-long launching.

Of course, we all know that the culminating event was the successful and well-attended live telecast of Wil Time Bigtime, held at the South Road Properties last Saturday.

The TV5 show topbills Willie Revillame.

The Kapatid Network has finally started making its presence felt in the Vis-Min area.

The fight for televiewers’ patronage has even gone hotter and fiercer.