Former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza on Sunday announced a new bill proposing the banning of foreign teleseryes in an effort to protect local productions against canned ‘kimchi’ shows from abroad.
To the die-hard fans of Asianovelas and Koreanovelas -- watch all these "chinito" teleseryes while you still can. They may be out from Philippine television soon.
Atienza, now Buhay party-list representative, authored HB 3839 or “An Act prohibiting the broadcast of foreign television series, also known as teleserye, during prime time, while the local television industry is recovering, and for other purposes” to level the playing field for Filipino productions.
“Foreign teleseryes have been eating into the primetime schedules of television companies, and thereby push the Philippine-produced shows to unfavorable time slots,” he said in a statement.
Primetime is the peak time slot of television broadcasts, usually between 6 p.m. 10 p.m.
According to Atienza, State policy mandates protection of the local entertainment industry along with promoting creativity needed to spur production and increase employment.
“Not only are locally produced TV shows pushed to unfavorable timeslots but, worse, local producers have ceased making original productions for television,” Atienza said.
He said shows from neighboring countries such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have dominated media placements pushing Philippine-produced shows to airtime slots with limited viewership.
“I know that my proposal will cause controversy, but there is need to regulate the entry of foreign teleseryes into primetime programming to promote local creativity and empower Philippine producers to create content and employ more local talents,” Atienza admitted.
The bill has been referred by plenary to the House Committee on Public Information.--Source: Manila Standard Today