"Philippine Idol", Associated Broadcasting Company's (ABC) franchise of "American Idol", alleged "Pinoy Dream Academy" conducted contestant piracy, with ABS-CBN employees even approaching a judge to “just let [some of] the contestants go.” This came after ABC turned down ABS-CBN's offer to co-produce "Philippine Idol"

ABS-CBN denied talent piracy in a letter sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying that they successfully staged competitions without poaching contestants from other contests and would fully respect a contestant's choice in which competition one would join.