Pinoy Idol on GMA-7!

The second season of Philippine Idol was transfered to a new network and with a new name. GMA Network, the current franchise holder of "Idol" in the Philippines, has renamed it "Pinoy Idol". It replaces Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC)'s "Philippine Idol", which was the original franchise, after it was not awarded by FremantleMedia to ABC for its supposedly second season.

Pinoy Idol is set to premiere on February 2008.

From Philippine Idol to Pinoy Idol
(from Wikipedia)

ABC was supposed to have a second season for Philippine Idol, as announced in a report in their late night news show "Sentro".

However, rumors began to spread that Philippine Idol would not be having a second season in 2007 as planned, while major station GMA Network was planning to acquire the Idol franchise. Sources claimed that ABC incurred heavy losses in the previous season, primarily because of the low number of advertisement placements despite being a widely-followed show. ABC asserted that it was still under negotiation with FremantleMedia about the second season and had earmarked Asian Idol as its "big launch", although it was a possibility that GMA was negotiating about Idol as well since the network already had local franchises of Celebrity Duets and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?--both from FremantleMedia.

After several negotiations, FremantleMedia officially decided to have the second season aired on GMA Network, slated for a 2008 premiere. FremantleMedia's representative Geraldine Bravo said that it is "very fortunate" to find a new partner, while GMA Network's Senior Vice President for Entertainment Wilma Galvante added that both parties have agreed that the network "has the experience, the resources, and the people to mount talent-search programs".

Reactions from ABC and GMA
(from Wikipedia)

ABC was reportedly sore about the deal, saying through its senior vice president for Corporate Affairs Terra Daffon that ABC was willing to buy only Idol with no other packages attached, but FremantleMedia has apparently found a better deal with GMA, "a giant" compared to their network which they described as a "Jack trying to climb the beanstalk". ABC was also saddended by rumors that GMA would relaunch the show instead of recognizing the first season and therefore not acknowledging Mau Marcelo as the first Philippine Idol. Daffon commented that GMA's move to acquire FremantleMedia programs was a complete turnaround from its previous vow not to "buy" any foreign franchise, and that it seemed set in battling rival ABS-CBN anew as the latter now has four franchises from Endemol.

Galvante, meanwhile, countered that she will not back down from what she said that GMA will not "copy" foreign franchises completely, without making adjustments to entertain local viewers, which was different from her statement a year before that the network didn't need to "buy" a foreign franchise to put up their own talent searches.