Coach Chot takes centerstage

Vincent “Chot” Reyes shot to fame when he steered the country’s national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, to compete among the best basketball teams in the world. Our country, being a basketball-crazed nation, found a common cause to rally for our boys and to support Coach Chot who gave the country two silver trophies from FIBA Asia. Today, he wears two hats that are both equally demanding and challenging: as the CEO and president of TV5 and as the re-appointed head of the National Basketball team.

Coach Chot has always been a steady and reliable pillar of the Kapatid Network. In 2014, as head of Sports5, he was hailed as one of the country’s top executives by the communication professionals group, International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). He was one of the 13 Filipino recipients of its CEO EXCEL award, the highest individual recognition the IABC gives. The IABC since 2005 has been honoring top business and organization leaders who “masterfully and effectively championed the use of excellent communication as a business strategy.” Now at the helm of TV5 Network, Coach Chot hits the ground running and has set his eyes on 2017. Amidst the transformation that the Kapatid Network is going through as it shifts into the digital era, Coach Chot, is intent on rebuilding and targeting new generation of televiewers.

From left: Lloyd Manaloto, TV5 head of marketing; Coach Chot; Anna Bengzon, chief finance officer; and Mell Tolentino, head of programming

“I see TV5 doing something different that you cannot see in the other TV networks. We are looking for content that is totally different voice, with different look and a different field,” he explained.

One of these initiatives is the partnership with internationally-renowned director Brillante Mendoza whose creative prowess included winning Best Director for his film Kinatay at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and Best Film at the sixth Dubai International Film Festival.

According to Coach Chot, “The best way to look at direk Brillante is he is a content partner of TV5. He’s going to do a monthly short film — whose theme will revolve around that particular month.” Direk Brillante has also been tapped to do a 13-part mini-series and a full-length movie for TV5 as part of the network’s plans to encourage indie filmmakers, writers and producers to build a partnership with the network. “That’s the strong message we want to send. That’s why we are very enthusiastic with this partnership with direk Brillante,” he explained.

Another project that clearly excites Coach Chot is the forthcoming Miss Universe pageant. According to him, “We have partnered with Solar and the organizers to be one of the networks that will bring to the public the Miss Universe pageant night live on Jan. 30. On top of that, we also have the exclusive rights to air the swimsuit competition on Jan. 27 and the long gown competition on Jan. 29 which will be exclusive to TV5.” The network also got the exclusive digital rights to the event that will bring all the drama and color behind the scenes.

“All these scenes which you will not be seeing on television, you are going to see on all our online platforms. So that’s something different that we can offer to the Filipino viewing public. The combination of the public airing on free TV as well as the digital media — the digital derivative content that we will produce for the Miss Universe.”

Drawing from his own experiences in rebuilding the national basketball team to compete with the best in the world, we can expect perhaps, not miracles from Coach Chot, but we are sure to see some astounding things from the Kapatid Network that live up to its reputation as an innovator and creative driving force in the entertainment industry.