Turf war between ABC-5 and ABS-CBN escalates

The turf war just got tougher.

The ABC-5 vs. ABS-CBN battle for supremacy in finding the country's latest star came to a head today in an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, two days after Philippine Idol Updates surmised about it in our ABS-CBN challenges Philippine Idol with Pinoy Dream Academy post.

RP Idol vs. PBB, a piece by entertainment writer Bayani San Diego Jr., hinted at the potential Philippine Idol warfare being waged by stalwarts of ABC-5 and ABS-CBN:

With both shows being foreign franchises (Philippine Idol from Fremantle Media/19 Entertainment and Dream Academy from Netherlands-based Endemol), talent searches cum reality shows, and airing nightly (Perci Intalan of ABC-5 apparently bit back at ABS-CBN's Lauren Dyogi, who claimed incorrectly that Philippine Idol would air only two nights a week), it is only a matter of time before both networks go head to head in this war for primetime supremacy.

A hitch for ABC-5: their broadcasting signal has been criticized in the past for being poor in the provinces, unlike ABS-CBN's juggernaut broadcast reach.

Dyogi also noted that Dream Factory would conduct auditions for Filipino talent in Australia, Dubai, Jpaan, Italy, and the United States. Philippine Idol Updates hopes that it will be significantly better than their last audition, which, as reported by the Manila Bulletin, was all but blasted away in numbers and talent by the first round of Philippine Idol auditions.