Linggtin Tan-Marasigan loved watching TV as a kid, and even now as an adult. This love led her to her long career in ABS-CBN. She’s best known as the woman who successfully produced ABS-CBN comedies, such as Home Along Da Riles, Goin Bulilit and Banana Split. Not many know of the struggles and success she went through with mounting Pinoy Big Brother though.
The Problems at Hand
In 2004, ABS-CBN lost leadership amongst other local channels. At this time, GMA’s “Extra Challenge”, “Mulawin”, and “Darna” took the spotlight which led ABS-CBN’s rates to go down after 16 years of being on top. Budgets were slashed due to this and many of ABS-CBN’s employees underwent retrenchment.
They attempted to do reality TV shows like Kris Aquino’s “Game Ka na Ba?” but found that they weren’t good with it. In the early 2000s, reality tv was just kicking off and not everyone had the technology to support the type of production needed for it. So how could they compete if they didn’t have the tech nor the know-how to use it?
Completing the Puzzle
Linggtin Tan-Marasigan knew what they had to do. She took a risk and led the investment of buying the equipment and learning more about reality TV production.
Reality TV shows use multi-camera set-ups and the hundreds of clips these cameras would make required a specific system for previewing. Their investment led them to Australia, where a company taught them a specific system called CMS or Content Management Suite.
The same company produced a show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” and through this show Tan-Marasigan saw the CMS in action. She was amazed with how the show was made but considering ABS-CBN’s condition at the time, she knew she couldn’t risk too much by adapting the show. She was then introduced to “Big Brother”. Its format was simple enough that ABS-CBN could take a calculated risk so plans to produce “Pinoy Big Brother” were on its way and the rest is history!
Sustaining Success
Pinoy Big Brother’s success was unimaginable, so much so that it was more than just a satisfactory success for Linggit Tan-Marasigan. It became the very show to put ABS-CBN back at the top! Now, Pinoy Big Brother or PBB has been running for 14 years and 8 seasons.
PBB was a monumental change for the company. In their many years of production, they’ve prided themselves in producing original shows. With PBB being their first franchise and with the show changing many of their productions, they knew they were in the middle of a transition from the old ABS-CBN to the new, and Linggtin Tan-Marasigan was at the forefront of it all.
Now, as one of the heads for iWant TV, Linggtin Tan-Marasigan is just as eager to face those times again. If you want to get to know this Chinay better, watch her extended CHiNOY Profiles here!
