If there is a big reason why I felt so ambivalent every time I write about ABS-CBN is that I have talking (and ranting) like a broken record when it comes to the network’s track record in airing Anime shows.
Sure, I have been very much been either supportive or dismissive of the network’s actions for a long time, even when the time I started blogging, but of course, the network has been that, always deaf and blind. I tried to change the system (note, tried) when I was accepted as an animation brainstormer at Ignacia, but I had to let it go because I needed a more regular work, I had to let it go, to my immense regret. (yes, I regret leaving that brainstormer job)
But lately, I had become heavily critical of ABS-CBN. and not because of its franchise fracas (Disclaimer: On the ABS-CBN franchise issue, my stand has been neutral, since day one, mainly because I don’t want to be misconstrued about what has happened with ABS-CBN. I know some people won’t accept my opinion on this as they should have expected me to defend the network, but again, I had to defer my opinions as a working journalist.) but because of its complete abandonment of anime since it downsized its operations when its franchise was ixnayed.
In other words, yes, ABS-CBN has also given anime the pink slip.
It seems that the network in Mother Ignacia does not even care much about anime even it its recent incarnation from a broadcast firm to a “multimedia company”, spanning different platforms such as cable, internet, and even through a block time agreement on two channels, A2Z (full-time) and TV5 (part time).
Sure, ABS may have redeemed themselves a bit with the airing of anime movies during this year’s paschal triduum (with the premiere of Weathering with You, to boot), but it seems that it is just a one-time-big-time push by the network to just convince anime fans that “we are there for you“, or in Filipino, “andito kami para sa iyo”
Their new battlecry, launched a year after they lost the capability to broadcast on free-to-air television, stemmed on the fact that ABS-CBN is still there for every Filipino, albeit on different platforms. It also reminds the public that despite GMA obviously lording it over on the FTA space, ABS-CBN, or its ghost on multiple platforms, continues to remain operational.
(Which, by the way, elicited a rebuttal advertisement on GMA showing their own platforms, but it looked more and more like GMA was getting insecure on a competitor whose reach was already scrimped)
But, that context alone will only apply to the fans of their inane teleseryes or Korean dramas, or those who missed the voice of Noli de Castro on their airwaves. Sure, they have multiple platforms to choose, whether on cable or satellite, or through their VOD service iWantTFC and their YouTube and Facebook platforms, as well as their time-buy agreements with the two free to air channels.
How about anime fans? Were they there for us? Andyan ba kayo para sa amin?
Face it, We knew ABS was going to give anime the pink slip when it unceremoniously dumped Hero TV in 2018, and earlier from that, putting Aniplus in SkyCable some months earlier. That alone was proof that ABS-CBN really does not care about anime fans anymore, I mean, Hero’s Facebook page is just, there. It has not updated its content in more than six months, and the last updated content was an article from a Disney Christmas campaign written by ANCX, which is the culture vertical of ANC. Other than that, its dormant, moribund, and it seems it has been forgotten.
And where did they put most of the anime shows? They shifted it to Yey, which, ostensibly, became a victim of ABS-CBN’s franchise woes, as its digital TV signal was not spared of the shutdown. Fortunately for Team Yey, it has found a new home on A2Z, but for the anime shows that aired before the shutdown, which include the new Cardcaptor Sakura? I don’t think it will see the light of day in any of ABS-CBN’s platforms, even on iWant.
But how about its anime shows? Nope, it will never EVER get a life on free to air, even on its blocktime partners, obviously because they feel that anime is just damaged goods for the network. They feel that a new ABS-CBN does not deserve an iota of any new anime show on the platform. Hell they did not even get the free to air rights of some of the best anime of Hero TV and give them a new life on other ABS platforms, including iWant. They just let the rights expire and, yes, let it go.
This is the reason why I am very much ambivalent about supporting ABS-CBN’s causes, and with very good reason, its because the network always renege on it. It pains me to see that the network, which allowed me to become an anime fan in the first place, just suddenly lets go of its commitment to air anime simply because it is not in their interests anymore after their franchise lapsed.
This is the reason why I am very much ambivalent about supporting ABS-CBN’s causes, and with very good reason, its because the network always renege on it. It pains me to see that the network, which allowed me to become an anime fan in the first place, just suddenly lets go of its commitment to air anime simply because it is not in their interests anymore after their franchise lapsed.
They do not want to experiment other platforms, like iWantTFC, and instead just let other platforms, like Netflix to air anime shows, while POPTV Philippines takes up the slack in airing Filipino-dubbed anime series. ABS-CBN even failed to do what Mediacorp of Singapore did in its meWATCH platform: license some of the best shows and put it on their streaming service.
Maybe this is what the regime of Mark Lagdameo Lopez and Carlo Katigbak wants to inform to Anime fans, ABS-CBN is closing its doors on anime shows for good. because hey, we don’t even care much about it nowadays. We should understand the network’s predicament: It needs to survive on its skin first before taking the plunge on some unworthy additions such as anime programming.
And so it goes at ABS-CBN, who is now brandishing that whatever platform they are on, they are there, “andito kami para sa inyo“.
But for anime fans, were they there for us?. “andyan ba kayo para sa amin?”
Apparently, not.
/FSD