Interpreting the Context of AkTV and IBC ending their Blocktime Agreement

On Spin, Snow Badua noted that MVP made the announcement that its blocktime agreement with IBC-13 (through AkTV, which is under the arm of Mediaquest Holdings, Inc) will not be renewed when it ends in May.

Snow's source noted that AkTV would then move its coverage to TV5.

When this broke, Interaksyon posted this almost one hour later. Within that, they included their business article (as a link) detailing MVP's announcement of the end of their blocktime agreement, which was posted at 5:45pm, a couple of hours before the Spin piece was posted.

The business post denoted that the block-timing agreement was not profiting as much as what they expected, so they decided not to renew it when it ends in May. It also clearly made it known that any commitments that AkTV is in connection with will be maintained.



Here are things that we know:

1. The PBA will have its All-Star Week at Digos to kick-off May, which is in the middle of a stretch of semis matches, with the finals taking place from mid-May until the end of that month. (basing it from this theoretical schedule tweeted out by Fidel Mangonon III)

2. The UFL will have televised matches scheduled until June 13, and that is without the expected schedule adjustments that will have to be made due to the AFC President's Cup and the Singapore Cup, as well as the FIFA international break.

3. The 89th season of the NCAA opens on June 22.

4. AkTV's blocktime with IBC 13 is from 5pm-11pm on weekdays (except on Mondays, when they end at 1030pm), 530pm-11pm on Saturdays, and 4pm-11pm on Sundays. I am basing this on AkTV's April schedule grid.

5. Compare this to what they regularly schedule on TV5: They have news and public affairs shows around the 5-7pm slot and just before 11pm. In between that, Kidlat, Never Say Goodbye and Giant are sandwiched around a movie. That's on weekdays. On weekends, they also have weekly shows at that slot as well as movies. I am basing this on TV5's April schedule grid.

As such, I believe that what is about to happen:

AkTV will now be incorporated into TV5's programming. When we know what needs to be shown, you can make adjustments accordingly. Considering what is on TV5's schedule, it's easy to plug in the shows. For example: PBA coverage starts at 5pm, you move the news and public affairs shows onto earlier slots just before and after it or move them to their Aksyon TV. This is probably one of the reasons why Willie's show went from primetime to noontime, to free up primetime slots.

Thus, you might have been wondering how come they were non-committal with the V-League coverage (which eventually went to GMA News TV) as well as possibly why the broadcasting rights for the AFC President's Cup (which a UFL side is participating) went to ABS-CBN Sports.

As such, it remains to be seen what exactly AkTV will be doing. I entrust to them what they have in mind when the time comes.