More local content coming to Channel 5

SINGAPORE — MediaCorp Channel 5 will be looking a little different come January.

In a move to revamp the channel, there will be lots of new local content, said MediaCorp’s managing director, TV, Bernard Lim at a press conference yesterday.

He added that by July next year, more than half of the channel’s programmes will be local. These will include new programmes such as variety and infotainment shows, as well as dramas, telemovies and a made-in-Singapore animated series.

What’s more, a long-running local drama series with 199 episodes will be undertaken for the first time on Channel 5. Set in a middle-income neighbourhood, the series, which debuts in June, will follow multiracial and multi-generational families and incorporate the latest social issues.

Speaking of families, the animated series Heartland Hubby, revolving around the family of an ex-army warrant officer that starts a mini-mart business, will feature the voices of Lim Yu Beng, Petrina Kow, Denise Tan, George Young and Chua Enlai.

New variety shows come in the form of reality talent show The 5 Search. Starting on Jan 4, it’s hosted by Jean Danker, with Tay Ping Hui and Bryan Wong serving as resident judges, and will aim to uncover the next big star. From Jan 1, a new nightly magazine programme called The 5 Show will see hosts Chua Enlai and Class 95FM DJ Yasminne Cheng discussing current hot topics.

Said Chua, who has signed on as a MediaCorp artiste managed by Fly Entertainment: “I’m quite scared, to be honest … It’s going to be a whole new ballgame — the fact that it’s live and it’s every weekday. I host live shows, I do theatre, but this is different because it’s so much more intimate and timing is so important as well.”

“This is the first time Channel 5 is going to be doing a live magazine show, so it’s going to be fun and nerve-wracking,” said Cheng, who is looking forward to working with Chua because “we’ve been friends for a long time, so I think the chemistry and the fit is going to be there”.

There will also be changes to the channel’s news and current affairs programming. From Jan 1, the nightly news will move to the 9pm timeslot and will be presented by Otelli Edwards. Cheryl Fox will host the current affairs programme On The Red Dot, which will air on Thursdays at 10pm.

Regular current affairs show Talking Point, hosted by Steven Chia, will also be moving to a new weekday timeslot on Tuesday at 9.30pm. “What we are hoping to do is to make the shows friendlier and more accessible to the audience,” said Chia, who will also host a new show, Common Cents. “In Talking Point, we discuss issues that involve things that happen in your daily life, and Common Cents looks at the finances behind things you may not have thought about such as education and healthcare.”

Lim hopes the changes to the channel will cater to the demand for quality local content. “We’ve taken stock and realised that we have not been really in touch and connecting with the English-speaking Singaporean viewer,” Lim said, despite the variety of acquired programmes.

“So, when it’s locally made, locally crafted and locally scripted, it makes a lot of difference. We know that local content consistently rates better,” he added. “So, we decided to go with the localisation strategy of really upsizing our local content.”

The bigger picture, he said, is that “this is really an industry-wide thing, to revamp English television for Singapore. We are also working very hard with our partners in the television production industry to get production houses to generate consistently good content for us.

“And MediaCorp Studios is also looking at improving our standards and making our shows better and ‘stickier’ so that viewers will stay and watch. In all these processes, we have also worked with many consultants from overseas. And we welcome talents from anywhere to be part of this change, which is why we are happy to announce that we have signed on Enlai as a MediaCorp artiste.”

Lim added: “I think with media coming into different forms, television ought to quickly reinvent itself. Television will always be here … It may appear on different platforms — Toggle, your handsets, your iPads — but we think that content is here to stay. So if we generate this content and have IP rights over it, that’s the only way to grow viewers and grow the channel.”