By Bayani San Diego Jr.
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–It’s official.

“Philippine Idol’s” season 2 will be aired on GMA 7, according to Geraldine Bravo, director of Marketing and Sales for FremantleMedia, “Idol” franchise holder.

“We are very fortunate to find a new partner to produce ‘Philippine Idol,’” said Bravo in an official statement sent to Inquirer Entertainment on Friday.

The first season of the reality singing contest was aired by ABC 5 last year.

ABC 5 earlier insisted that it was still “deep in discussions with Fremantle and… barring any major glitch… [we will] still mount the second season.”

Sought to comment on the new development, ABC 5, through senior vice president for Corporate Affairs Terra Daffon, said, “ABC 5 is still waiting for official word from Fremantle.”

Bravo’s formal announcement, however, sealed the deal with GMA 7. “It is our intention to make [RP ‘Idol’] the biggest show the Philippines has ever seen,” Bravo said.

According to various sources, the show’s target launch is February 2008.

An insider told the Inquirer on Wednesday that GMA 7 had bagged the show as of Tuesday night.

The source claimed that GMA 7 would treat its RP “Idol” as a totally new show, independent of the first season—meaning, Mau Marcelo would not be considered the first winner.

But another informant said, “Fremantle should be the one to make such decisions.”

Wilma Galvante, GMA 7 senior vice president for Entertainment TV, said, “As far as we are concerned, this is our first partnership with Fremantle for the ‘Idol’ franchise.”

Bravo’s announcement, Galvante added, merely “means that [both parties] have agreed that GMA 7 has the experience, resources and people to mount talent-search programs [like ‘Idol’].”

In the statement, Bravo said there was no problem in finding talented singers in the Philippines. “The challenge is to keep the show interesting, by providing the viewers with an insight into the journeys that the singers are [taking].”

Galvante agreed: “That’s the essence of the ‘Idol’ franchise.” However, she declined to comment on ABC 5’s status. “That’s between ABC 5 and the people it was talking to in Fremantle.”

According to Bravo’s statement, “Fremantle has taken into consideration several parties to be the possible home of [RP ‘Idol’].” The statement reiterated that Fremantle considered GMA 7 as “an excellent partner… having licensed other [Fremantle] shows like ‘Celebrity Duets,’ ‘Whammy,’ and ‘Family Feud.’”

One source said Regine Velasquez was being eyed as new ‘Idol’ host; another claimed that Ryan Agoncillo and Ryan Cayabyab would be retained as host and judge, respectively. “It’s too early to go into such details,” said Galvante.

Another question is whether Marcelo would compete in “Asian Idol” in November. According to a source, it was still undecided whether GMA 7 would participate in “Asian Idol” or whether record label Sony-BMG would field Marcelo in the regional contest in Jakarta.

Quite tellingly, Jan Nieto, Marcelo’s runner-up on Idol, is also signing up with GMA 7.