Bolinao Electronic Corporation

Noong 13 Hunyo 1946, itinatag ng Americanong inhinyero na si

James Lindenberg ang Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC),
isang kompanya na gumagawa at bumubuo ng mga kasangkapan
para sa radio transmission. Noon taong 1949, lumapit si
Lindenberg sa Kongreso ng Filipinas upang hingin ang pahintulot
na magtatag at magpatakbo ng isang himpilan ng telebisyon. At
noong 14 Hunyo 1950, naaprobahan ang kaniyang kahilingan sa
pamamagitan ng Republic Act No. 511 at 512, na nakasaad ang
mga responsabilidad sa publiko ng isang himpilan ng telebisyon,
tulad ng pagpapalaganap ng makabuluhang kaalaman lalo na sa
mahahalagang isyung pampubliko. Ngunit dahil sa kakulangan sa
materyales at mahigpit na patakaran sa pag-aangkat ng mga
dayuhang produkto, itinuon na lamang ng BEC ang atensiyon sa
pagsasahimpapawid sa radyo.
Taóng 1952 nang binili ni Antonio Quirino, na naghahangad ding magtatag ng isang himpilan ng
telebisyon, ang malaking porsiyento ng BEC at pinalitan ang pangalan nitó bilang Alto Broadcasting
System (ABS). Si Lindenberg ang naging punòng tagapamahala ng himpilan. Noong 23 Oktubre
1953, ang DZAQ-TV 3 sa ilalim ng pamunuan ng ABS ay unang sumahimpapawid at ipinakilála bilang
ang kauna-unahang himpilan ng telebisyon sa bansa. Kayâ namang itinuturing
ang BEC bilang pinag-ugatan ng television broadcasting sa Filipinas at si Lindenberg bilang ama ng
Telebisyong Filipino.
Noong 1958, ang ABS ay nabili nina Eugenio Lopez, Sr. at ang noo’y pangalawang pangulo na si
Fernando Lopez na siyáng may-ari ng Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN), isang radio network).
Paglipas ng ilang taon, pormal na pinagsanib ang dalawang korporasyon at tinawag na ABS-CBN
Broadcasting Corporation. Sa kasalukuyan, ang ABS-CBN ang isa sa mga kilalá at nangungunang
kompanya sa larangan ng midya sa bansa. (MJ)
https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/
 ABS-CBN
Corporation
ABS-CBN Corporation is the biggest media conglomerate in the Philippines,
dominating three main platforms: television, radio, and online media.
ABS-CBN traces its beginnings to the merger of two broadcast networks after
World War II: Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network.
ABS was owned by then president Elpidio Quirino’s younger brother Antonio,
who bought into Bolinao Electronics Corporation, a company owned by Jewish-
American businessman James Lindberg that assembled radio-transmitting
equipment. Lindenberg applied for and got the very first television franchise in
the Philippines, and, on October 23, 1953, ABS aired the first full-blown TV
broadcast in the country as DZAQ-TV.
CBN, on the other hand, stands for Chronicle Broadcasting Network and was
owned by Eugenio Lopez Sr. of the Lopez family that also owned the broadsheet
Manila Chronicle.
Lopez bought ABS from the Quirinos on February 24, 1957. ABS-CBN came into
existence, and was the first Philippine network to broadcast in color.
Lopez was the elder brother of Fernando Lopez who served as Elpidio Quirino’s
vice president from 1949 to 1953 and Ferdinand Marcos’ vice-president until
1972, when Marcos declared martial law and took control of all media, including
ABS-CBN and the Manila Chronicle which then ceased operations.
ABS-CBN resumed commercial operations after the People Power Revolution in
1986 when then President Corazon Aquino, through an executive order, gave the
Lopezes back the businesses that Marcos seized from them 14 years earlier,
including ABS-CBN and other companies.
On March 1, 1987, Channel 2 was relaunched as “The Star Network” and has
since then produced content that appeals to the Filipino viewing public.
Today, ABS-CBN Corporation has P38.278 billion ($817 million) declared
revenue as of December 31, 2015 with the bulk of its income coming from its
broadcast operations followed by its cable and satellite operations. It has
presence on TV via ABS-CBN 2, sports station Sports+Action, and regional
channels. On radio, there is DZMM on the AM band and 101.9 on the FM band,
while online platform is abs.cbn.com. The company continues to produce printed
material with ABS-CBN Publishing Incorporated, a magazine and book
publisher.ABS-CBN forms a duopoly in the Philippine media landscape together
with its closest competitor, GMA Network Incorporated, with the two giants
capturing 80.72 percent of the television audience in the Philippines.
ABS-CBN Corporation is part of the Lopez group of companies known as Lopez,
Incorporated. Its non-media businesses include power and energy, property
development, financial services, and manufacturing.
They were into water services, telecommunications, and tollways.
https://philippines.mom-rsf.org/en/owners/companies/detail/company/company/show/abs-cbn-
corporation/
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.

RELATED: Presidential, VP bets spend ₱6.7 billion on pre-election campaign ads - PCIJ

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.
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/2/13/ABS-CBN-franchise-timeline.html

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7966

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7966 - AN ACT GRANTING THE ABS-CBN BROADCASTING

CORPORATION A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, INSTALL, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN
TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7966

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7966 - AN ACT GRANTING THE ABS-CBN BROADCASTING

CORPORATION A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, INSTALL, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN
TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

Section 1. Nature and Scope of Franchise. — Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and
applicable laws, rules and regulations, the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, hereunder referred to
as the grantee, its successors or assigns, is hereby granted a franchise to construct, operate and
maintain, for commercial purposes and in the public interest, television and radio broadcasting stations
in and throughout the Philippines, through microwave, satellite or whatever means including the use
of any new technologies in television and radio systems, with the corresponding technological
auxiliaries or facilities, special broadcast and other broadcast distribution services and relay stations.

Sec. 2. Manner of Operation of Stations or Facilities. — The existing and future stations or facilities
of the grantee shall be constructed in a manner as will at most result only in the minimum interference
on the wavelengths or frequencies of the other existing station or stations which may be established
by law without in any way diminishing its own right to use its selected wavelengths or frequencies and
the quality of transmission or reception thereon as should maximize rendition of the grantee's services
and/or the availability thereof.

Sec. 3. Prior Approval of the National Telecommunications Commission. — The grantee shall secure
from the National Telecommunications Commission the appropriate permits and licenses for its station
and shall not use any frequency in the television or radio spectrum without having been authorized by
the Commission. The Commission, however, shall not unreasonably withhold or delay the grant of any
such authority.

Sec. 4. Responsibility to the Public. — The grantee shall provide adequate public service time to
enable the government, through the said broadcasting stations, to reach the population on important
public issues; provide at all times sound and balanced programming; promote public participation such
as in community programming; assist in the functions of public information and education; conform to
the ethics of honest enterprise; and not use its stations for the broadcasting of obscene and indecent
language, speech, act or scene, or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful
misrepresentation to the detriment of the public interest, or to incite, encourage, or assist in subversive
or treasonable acts.
Sec. 5. Right of Government. — A special right is hereby reserved to the President of the Philippines,
in times of rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster or disturbance of peace and order, to
temporarily take over and operate the stations of the grantee, to temporarily suspend the operation of
any station in the interest of public safety, security and public welfare, or to authorize the temporary
use and operation thereof by any agency of the government, upon due compensation to the grantee,
for the use of the said stations during the period when they shall be so operated.

Sec. 6. Term of Franchise. — This franchise shall be for a term of twenty-five (25) years from the
date of effectivity of this Act.

Sec. 7. Acceptance and Compliance. — Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing to
Congress within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act. Upon giving such acceptance, the
grantee shall exercise the privileges granted under this Act.

Sec. 8. Tax provisions. — The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be liable to pay the same taxes
on their real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of this franchise, as other persons or
corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay. In addition thereto, the grantee, its
successors or assigns, shall pay a franchise tax equivalent to three percent (3%) of all gross receipts
of the radio/television business transacted under this franchise by the grantee, its successors or
assigns, and the said percentage shall be in lieu of all taxes on this franchise or earnings thereof:
provided, that the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall continue to be liable for income taxes
payable under Title II of the National Internal Revenue Code pursuant to Sec. 2 of Executive Order No.
72 unless the latter enactment is amended or repealed, in which case the amendment or repeal shall
be applicable thereto.

The grantee shall file the return with and pay the tax due thereon to the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue or his duly authorized representatives in accordance with the National Internal Revenue Code,
and the return shall be subject to audit by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Sec. 9. Self-regulation by and Undertaking of Grantee. — The grantee shall not require any previous
censorship of any speech, play, act or scene, or other matter to be broadcast and/or telecast from its
stations: provided, that the grantee, during any broadcast and/or telecast, shall cut off from the air
the speech, play, act or scene, or other matter being broadcast and/or telecast if the tendency thereof
is to propose and/or incite treason, rebellion or sedition; or the language used therein or the theme
thereof is indecent or immoral, and willful failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the
cancellation of this franchise.

SECTION 10. Warranty in Favor of National and Local Governments. — The grantee shall hold the
national, provincial, and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all claims, accounts,
demands or actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by
the construction or operation of the stations of the grantee.

SECTION 11. Sale, Lease, Transfer, Usufruct, etc. — The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the
usufruct of, sell nor assign this franchise or the rights and privileges acquired thereunder to any person,
firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity, without the approval of the Congress
of the Philippines. Any person or entity to which this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned shall be
subject to all the same conditions, terms, and limitations of this Act.

SECTION 12. General Broadcast Policy Law. — The grantee shall comply with a general broadcast
policy law which Congress may hereafter enact.

SECTION 13. Separability Clause. — If any of the sections or provisions of this Act is held invalid, all
the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid.

SECTION 14. Repealability and Non-exclusivity Clauses. — This franchise shall be subject to
amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires
and shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
SECTION 15. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date of its publication
in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Approved: March 30, 1995

http://www.chanrobles.com/republicacts/republicactno7966.html#.Xk4wVCgzZlA

ALTO BROADCASTING SY STEM

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/alto_broadcasting_system#Beginnings