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Thursday, December 20, 2007

 

GMA 7 tagged in scandal

TV network denies charges aired on rival radio program

By Likha Cuevas-Miel Reporter

Television network GMA 7 allegedly funded bribing operations to discredit its rival ABS-CBN.

The allegation was made on Wednesday by a reporter of a radio station owned by ABS-CBN.

It was promptly denied by GMA 7.

Junrie Hidalgo of dzMM allegedly said, “AGB Nielsen umamin sa dayaan. GMA network tahasang itinurong nasa likod ng dayaan. [AGB Nielsen admitted to cheating. GMA network was pointed to as directly behind the cheating.]”

AGB Nielsen Media Research Phils. undertakes ratings surveys for both networks. Last week, it was sued for P81 million by ABS-CBN for allegedly manipulating such surveys.

Maya Reforma, the media research firm’s general manager, submitted an affidavit in court that “belied such accusation” made by Hidalgo.

In a statement, GMA 7 said dzMM “erroneously” aired that AGB Nielsen had named it as the entity behind the bribing operations that targeted metered homes in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, to sway so-called panel households’ viewing habits.

“There is no evidence that shows any significant impact on [TV audience measurement] data as a result of the activities purportedly launched by [GMA 7],” it quoted Reforma’s affidavit.

ABS-CBN said in a separate statement that it is “standing by [its] report [aired on] dzMM” wherein Reforma supposedly identified GMA 7 as behind “certain activities that resulted in exposing the affected panel homes” during Hidalgo’s interview with the AGB Nielsen executive yesterday morning.

“Please note that the civil case ABS-CBN filed last Friday, December 14, was against AGB-Nielsen Media Research Philippines, not against any other party,” ABS-CBN added.

According to GMA 7, “Apart from being improbable—the informant’s claims as bandied about by ABS-CBN—[were] also not logical.”

On Tuesday, GMA 7 questioned the veracity of the information divulged by its rival’s informant. It said the 89-meter devices reportedly put up in Bacolod City are too many since the entire Visayas region can accommodate only 400 panel homes under AGB Nielsen’s data-gathering system.

“[GMA 7’s] ratings in the provinces—particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao—have not had any significant improvement since July 2007 when it started to subscribe to the ratings of AGB. If there was any involvement in the alleged tampering of panel homes in the area by [GMA 7], then its ratings there should have experienced significant increases,” GMA 7 said.

In a separate statement, AGB Nielsen said it already advised ABS-CBN that it was already conducting an “exhaustive investigation” of the activities of GMA 7 “and analyzing whether these activities had had an impact on viewing data.”

GMA 7, however, denied conducting “manipulative promo [promotion] efforts” anywhere in the country and these legitimate promotions are geared toward the general TV population of a certain locality as it has been spending “considerable amounts of money” to strengthen its signal and expand its reach. It said its rival conducts “more aggressive and wide-scale promos” in Visayas and Mindanao.

“GMA 7 values integrity and hard work as reflected by the credibility of its programs and its corporate core values. It is not [its] style to play dirty. [Its] programs are preferred and trusted by viewers in Luzon, Mega Manila and Metro Manila as proved by the ratings. A trial by publicity is not only unfair and damaging to [GMA 7] but also to its millions of loyal viewers . . . [It] is determined to get at the bottom of this allegation. [GMA 7] reserves the right to take such action as may be warranted, to protect its interests and reputation,” the network said.

   

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