TIMELINE: ABS-CBN franchise

By Melissa Luz Lopez, CNN Philippines

Published Feb 13, 2020 10:26:23 PM
369
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — TV network ABS-CBN faces an uncertain future beyond March 30.

The Lopez-owned network’s franchise is yet to be renewed by Congress, while its current authority to broadcast has been
put in peril after Solicitor General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court to void it.

Apart from its flagship ABS-CBN channel, the media conglomerate also operates other brands such as ABS-CBN Sports
and Action, DZMM Teleradyo, cable channels ABS-CBN News Channel or ANC, Cinema One, Jeepney TV, Knowledge
Channel, Metro Channel, Myx, and global channel TFC.

The network also started offering digital TV boxes which carries KBO, a channel airing Filipino movies. This was one of
the two issues raised by Calida in asking the high court to revoke ABS-CBN’s franchise.

This is the first time for the oldest TV station in the country to go through problems with franchise renewal. Here’s what
went before:

June 14, 1950: Republic Act No. 511 is passed giving a temporary permit for Bolinao Electronics Corporation to operate a
television station in the Philippines. The firm is renamed Alto Broadcasting System in 1953, patterned after the first names
of its new owners Aleli and Tony Quirino, the brother of former President Elpidio Quirino.

February 24, 1957: Lawyer and businessman Eugenio Lopez Sr. buys the company from the Quirinos. This leads to the
merger of ABS and Chronicle Broadcasting Network or CBN.

June 21, 1969: RA 5730 becomes law, which converts Bolinao Electronics Corporation’s franchise into ABS-CBN.

September 21, 1972: ABS-CBN, along with other networks and affiliate stations, are told to go off the air while media
assets are seized as then-President Ferdinand Marcos puts the entire nation under martial law. Media content is
controlled by the state.

September 16, 1986: ABS-CBN resumes daily broadcasts nearly seven months after a "people power" revolt toppled the
Marcos regime.

March 30, 1995: President Fidel Ramos signs RA 7966 granting a 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN Broadcasting
Corporation. The renewal comes five years ahead of the expiry of its franchise.

September 11, 2014: Isabela Representative Giorgidi Aggabao files House Bill 4997 under the 16th Congress, in the first
attempt to renew ABS-CBN’s franchise ahead of its March 2020 expiration. This does not get past the committee level.

May 6, 2016: Former Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, President Rodrigo Duterte’s running mate for the presidential
elections, gets a Taguig court to issue a temporary restraining order stopping ABS-CBN from airing TV commercials
against Duterte. The said ads are supposedly paid for by members of the opposition.

November 10, 2016: Rep. Micaela Violago of the second district of Nueva Ecija files House Bill 4349 seeking to renew
the network’s franchise, followed by a similar bill drafted by brothers Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles and PBA Party-List
Rep. Jericho Nograles. Both remain at the committee level.

November 8, 2018: Duterte unleashes one of his public rants against ABS-CBN for failing to air his campaign
advertisements for the May 2016 elections. He curses the network’s chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez and called him a
thief, saying he will reject the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

Duterte previously slammed the media conglomerate for its supposedly unfair labor practices, and earlier challenged the
network to accompany him to the central bank to open his bank accounts, amid reports that he had undeclared wealth.

July 1, 2019: Violago refiles her bill for the franchise renewal on the second day of the 18th Congress, with 20 other
House members signing up as co-authors of the measure. Ten other bills are filed to give ABS-CBN a fresh legal
mandate.

July 28, 2019: Senator Ralph Recto files a similar bill to extend ABS-CBN’s franchise for another 25 years. Sen. Leila De
Lima later asked to be co-author of the measure.

December 3, 2019: Duterte says he will personally “see to it” that ABS-CBN will be out of business by 2020. He later tells
the Lopezes to just sell the network to a new owner.
December 4, 2019: Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, says
they would not tackle the bills on ABS-CBN until the end of that year. House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano says the
measures can be taken up early 2020.

February 10, 2020: Calida heads to the high court with a quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN, saying it committed two
grave violations of its existing franchise. He claims the network allowed foreign owners to control the company by selling
Philippine Depositary Receipts to them, and offering KBO as an entirely new TV channel.

The network refutes Calida’s claim, saying it did not violate the law. The court asks ABS-CBN to respond to the points
raised in 10 days.

Media groups denounce the petition as a direct attack on freedom of speech and of the press.

February 12, 2020: Committee Vice Chairman Isabela Rep. Antonio Albano Jr. apologizes to the estimated 11,000
workers of ABS-CBN for delays in discussing the franchise renewal. He says the pending measures are already being
discussed among solons behind closed doors.

Cayetano vows that the House will be “impartial” in tackling ABS-CBN’s franchise.

The House committee tackling the measure still has no scheduled hearings on the bills as of Thursday, February 13.