The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
When Nel Talavera, Business Development Manager (BDM) of Asian Television Content (ATC) assumed his office, he had enough on his plate. While conceptualizing on shows for the Ulta High Frequency (UHF) free-to-air TV Channel 31, he also had to focus on producing programs for its digital platform, the ATC Channel 31 online TV.
One after the other, Nel had to streamline his thoughts on the smooth sailing journey of the station.
Talavera had to talk to a lot of people in the biz—marketing and creative persons—to fill up the many spaces of the network he was tasked to develop and grow. “It was really a challenge for me considering that the time of the launch of the station was at the height of the pandemic. Although there is still the big threat of the COVID-19 emergency, the responsibilities of running the station is still a challenge,” Nel, also known as Tito Nel in the biz.
Channel 31 is a 24/7 media outlet just like any other television network, Very High Frequency (VHF) free-to-air TV included.
Nel had sleepless nights in the middle of the health crisis but he had to make a systematic turn to make things easier for him. There were loads of work to do including mounting meetings with clients and prospective programmers—block timers, co-producers and station-producing think tanks. He also had to meet up with celebrities to populate and run the TV station and its shows.
When the top management decided that it would accept the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) to air all its educational shows in the analogue channel, Tito was relieved of one tension. It was because all the DepEd shows are already canned and just ready to air. “Hindi ko na iisipin ang mga programa sa analogue, di ba (I wouldn’t think of the programming of the analogue TV, right?) That lessened my task but I was ready to face up the challenge. Kahit na pandemic, okay lang. Gagawan ko ng paraan para mapuno ko ang programming ng analogue (Even if it’s pandemic time, it’s alright. I would do and think of ways to fill up the programming of analogue TV),” chuckled Nel.
At the moment, DepEd has occupied the majority of airtime of Channel 31 UHF TV like programs on arts, science, language, values etc. “Maganda ang mga programa ng DepEd. Nakakapagbigay ng maraming impormasyon sa mga manonood (The shows of DepEd are very nice. They are giving a lot of information to the viewers),” he confirmed.
Talavera is now concentrated on the digital telecommunications of ATC. “We have a lot of digital platforms to show our programs,” he said.
One of them is Facebook Live. Entrepreneur Yvonne Benavidez, owner and manager of Mega C, a Vitamin C brand, has a new show in Channel 31 titled “The Tita Mega C Show” which airs live every Sunday at 3 pm. Keanna Reeves has also a live show on Facebook which also airs in various digital outlets of Channel 31.
There are at least three digital avenues and still counting. According to Talavera, they are also considering a link with Cignal TV. “Malaki ang prospects ng Channel 31 sa lahat ng media outlets. Kailangang makipagsabayan para mas alive na alive and broadcast industry. Talagang pagandahan ng shows. Hindi pa full blast na full blast ‘yan, di ba (The prospects of Channel 31 are great and big in all its digital and analogue media outlets. We have to join the race in order to make the broadcast industry alive. It would mean improving and making worthwhile shows. To think that it’s not even on a full blast stage, right?),” observed Tito Nel.