In the June 4 (Monday) issue of The Philippine Star, veteran showbiz scribe Ricky Lo reports: "As (The Philippine Star) reported in a scoop a few issues ago, the Kapatid Network TV5 and Kapuso Network GMA have merged, a landmark development to be formally launched end of November."

Lo wrote in his long-running column, Funfare, that the ners "was virtually confirmed by (TV5) big boss Manny V. Pangilinan during the presscon last Saturday, June 2, in San Francisco where a partnership between TV5 and Dish Network was formally signed, called Dish Ko ’To, promoting the combined channels of GMA Pinoy TV and Kapatid TV5."  Lo described Dish as "the leading provider of satellite television in the US." Lo added: "(Pangilinan) also revealed that the TV5 board is investing P6 billion on the completion of various studios in the Philippines."

In any case, many people are still asking if the so-called merger is indeed a done deal.

On Sunday, June 3, TV personality Arnell Ignacio shared a tweet that reportedly came from Pangilinan himself (see screenshot below). In it, Pangilinan said: "You know, Arnel, all I said was: 'Please support TV5 here in the States. And, by the way, please support GMA-7, too (since Dish carries GMA).' That was all. No mention of merger, investment, combination. Certainly no mention of a November deadline, or any deadline at all. Sure some people speculated and all I said was, 'I can now say we [are] under discussion but nothing finalized at this time.'"

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