A measure seeking to ban Koreanovelas and other foreign television soap operas has been filed at the House of Representatives.

Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza filed House Bill 3839 seeking the prohibition of the telecast of all foreign-produced “teleseryes” during periods considered as prime time in the broadcast industry.

“While it is entertaining to watch television shows also known as teleseryers from our neighboring countries such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the proliferation of such shows lessen the time available for our Philippine-produced shows,” said Atienza, a member of the House independent minority bloc.

He blamed foreign teleseryes for “eating into the primetime schedules of television companies”.

This, he said, not only pushes Filipino teleseryes to "unfavorable timeslots" but it also makes producers to give up on making productions.

He said the bill seeks to “regulate the entry of foreign teleseryes into primetime programming.”

“This will necessarily push local creativity and empower the Philippine producers to create content and employ more local talent,” Atienza explained.

Under the bill no foreign soap operas will be shown in the free channels from 6 pm to 10 pm daily.