The end of free TV

Author: Edsel-Thadeus O. Lorete
Column: Final Cut

Who would ever have imagined that free television’s days are numbered? It is dying! The trend has yet to pick up here in Asia, but in America, the government, which now provides affected residents digital TV converters for free, formally announced that in a few years’ time US tri-media will cease to transmit or broadcast UHF or VHF antenna signals.

Digital cable and satellite broadcast television will take over, promising uninterrupted HD reception and more global channels 24/7, for a premium fee. This is great for business, but truly unfortunate for mass viewers who have to pay to see programs they once accessed free of charge.

I find this greedy move monopolistic! It explains why, despite cable television’s proliferation in the Philippines, cable signal theft is rampant despite moves to encrypt cable media. One media group, the Solar Entertainment organization headed by Wilson Cheng, seems to be working against this unfriendly viewer concept by providing free TV 24/7 on a regular VHF channel. I thought this was bad timing since Cheng’s group bolted out of Sky Cable’s clutches last January. Solar then bought most of RPN-9’s primetime slots to launch C/S channel free of charge and announcing it is going 24/7 soon.

This is a welcome initiative since many of C/S channel’s programs (Survivor, Bionic Woman, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicle, Life and Prison Break 3) are just as new as those aired by cable competitors. Why can’t this be made possible when majority of the country’s viewers still live below the economic poverty line? Who can afford to pay monthly dues ranging from P500 to as high as P1,500 to enjoy exclusive cable service? Never mind if RPN-9’s reception is prone to static distortion or knowing that it may, eventually, start airing commercials. What matters here is that more people are getting freer access to foreign shows.

It is important for networks to support alternative English shows not because they provide better content, but to strengthen the viewers’ waning oral English skills. This writer honed half his skills by regularly watching English programs after school. It is time to revert this trend. It is not a secret the way local television patterns its programming or technological advancement from its Western counterparts. It is a fact! Let it be a stern reminder though that despite the commercial business prospect raised by digital television, it still is the mass viewers that prefer the cheap antenna for expensive cable service, who has the upper hand in rolling the ratings wheel. 

Helping cancer victims through music

Cancer is a heartless killer disease that victimizes Pinoy children. International studies have shown that 100,000 innocent children die yearly due to lack of funds for diagnosis and proper treatment. The report cited 250 children die of cancer daily. Survival rates for Filipino children range from less than 30 percent to as low as 10 percent. This is why the health department is projecting cancer to become the country’s biggest killer disease in a few years’ time. This has prompted the Cancer Warriors Foundation, through the efforts of fashion apparel Mossimo and some of the country’s biggest pop acts led by like Barbie Almalbis, Rocksteddy, sibling artists Jeffrey Hidalgo and Arnee Hidalgo, to produce a music album that was able to raise P500,000. The money was distributed to cancer-afflicted children last weekend at the Glorietta mall. The event became a marathon fundraiser where children with cancer sold paintings they made to support their expensive and painful treatment. Meantime, donations for the Cancer Warrior Fund may be deposited in account number 007168509240 in any Metrobank Branch or contact James Auste at 551-4588 or 0917-8485258.

Summer upgrade for HBO+Asia/noticias/" title="HBO Asia">HBO Asia 

Did you know that Home Box Office-Asia (HBO-Asia) channel has a special cable service in Hong Kong where subscribers can actually pay to watch an entire movie any time the client demands? I bet you thought this kind of individualized cable programming is impossible given the hundreds of movies the channel shows daily. The service exclusively targets high-end HK consumers and comes with a fat service fee. HBO declined to say how much. This is also why HBO-Asia is not too keen on marketing this limited service to its regional Southeast Asian market. What HBO should realize is that this service, should they choose to invest and lower service cost, may just be the ticket to the regional clamor for updated and viewer-friendly programming.

This year HBO began updating its exclusive HBO Signature Channel with fresh and acclaimed house produced shows, which normally comes a year after its original US release. The list includes the anticipated summer run of the third season of Entourage, which reveals how Vince Chase pulled off filming his Paolo Escobar biopic in time for its Cannes release; the remaining second season of Big Love, where an intriguing character studies the prolonged impact of bigamous Mormon communities in a completely Western family setting; Flight of the Conchords, the misadventures of a two-man kiwi digi folk band soul searching in New York; and The Tudors, the 40-year reign of King Henry III. The most current show to hit regular HBO channel is John from Cincinnati, the story of a family of surfers afflicted by an unusual curse. 

Better than Harry Potter

It was not surprising to see children relating well to The Spiderwick Chronicles’ characters than those in the eccentric Harry Potter series. Both films derive their box-office success from having children play extraordinary heroes that battle evil. Spiderwick’s enchanting premise is superior to Potter’s screenplay because it is about a child’s very curious thoughts about the magical world of engkantos. The script keeps to a minimal language so children could readily adapt without sacrificing the depth of plot or getting softly compromised by the film’s huge demand for digital EFX. Potter was based on a similar pattern, but when producers cut through plenty of the books’ significant plotting, what it disappointingly accomplished was to turn Potter into this sensationally complicated jigsaw too complicated for some. The Spiderwick Chronicles is currently screening in Metro theaters nationwide. Must-see! 

Source: The Daily Tribune

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