History of Television Broadcasting in the Philippines

1950s Arcadio Carandang, Romualdo Carballo, Harry Chaney and Jose Navarro

During the 1950s, the University of Santo Tomas and Feati University were
experimenting with television. UST demonstrated its home-made receiver, while Feati
opened an experimental television station two years later.

On October 23, 1953, the Alto Broadcasting System (ABS), the forerunner of
ABS-CBN, made its first telecast as DZAQ-TV Channel 3.

The ABS offices were then located along Roxas Blvd. ABS was owned by
Antonio Quirino, brother of former president Elpidio Quirino. Consequently, the first
telecast was that of a party at the owner's residence, earning Elpidio Quirino the honor
of being the first Filipino to appear on television. The station operated on a four-hours-a-
day schedule (6-10PM), covering only a 50-mile radius.

ABS was later sold to the Lopez family, who later transformed it into ABS-CBN.

By 1957, the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN), owned by the Lopez family,
operated two TV stations DZAQ Channel 3 and DZXL-TV Channel 9.

1960s

By 1960, a third station was in operation, DZBB-TV Channel 7, or, the Republic
Broadcasting System. It was owned by Bob Stewart, a long-time American resident in
the Philippines who also started with radio in 1950. RBS started with only 25
employees, a surplus transmitter, and two old cameras. During this time, the most
popular horror series on Philippine television was Gabi ng Lagim.

In 1961, the National Science Development Board was established. It was

behind the earliest initiative to use local TV for education, "Education on TV" and
"Physics in the Atomic Age."

In 1963, RBS TV Channel-7 Cebu was inaugurated. The Metropolitan

Educational Association (META), in cooperation with the Ateneo Center for Television
Closed Circuit Project, produced television series in physics, Filipino, and the social
sciences which were broadcast in selected TV stations and received by participating
secondary schools. The META team was headed by Leo Larkin, S.J., with Josefina
Patron, Florangel Rosario, Lupita Concio and Maria Paz Diaz as members. The project
lasted from 1964 to 1974.
 By 1966, the number of privately owned TV channels was 18; ABS-CBN was the
biggest network by the time Martial Law was declared.

By 1968, the daily television content consisted mostly of canned program; only
10% of programs were locally produced. The same year, ABS-CBN provided Filipinos
with live satellite feed of the Mexico Olympics. Filipino audiences also saw the Apollo 11
landing live in 1969.

1970s

During Martial Law, Ferdinand Marcos ordered the closure of all but three
television stations: channels 9 and 13 were eventually controlled by then Ambassador
Roberto Benedicto, and Bob Stewart's Channel 7 was later allowed to operate with
limited three-month permits.

ABS-CBN was seized from the Lopez family, and Eugenio Lopez Jr., then
president of the network, was imprisoned. In 1973, the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster
sa Pilipinas (KBP) was organized to provide a mechanism for self-regulation in the
broadcast industry.

By the latter part of 1973, Channel 7 was heavily in d debt and was forced to sell
70% of the business to a group of investors, who changed the name from RBS to
Greater Manila Area (GMA) Radio Television Arts.

Stewart was forced to cede majority control to Gilberto Duavit, a Malacanang

official, and RBS reopened under new ownership, with a new format as GMA-7. When
the smoke cleared, the viewer had channels 2, 9, 13, run by Benedicto; Duavit's 7; and
4, which belonged to the Ministry of Information.

When DZXL-TV Channel 9 of CBN was sold to Roberto Benedicto, he changed

the name from CBN to KBS, Kanlaon Broadcasting System. So when a fire destroyed
the KBS television studios in Pasay, the people of Benedicto took over the ABS-CBN
studios on Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. His employees moved in, and by August 1973,
KBS was broadcasting on all ABS-CBN channels. A year later, Salvador "Buddy" Tan,
general manager of KBS, reopened Channel 2 as the Banahaw Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC). The two Benedicto stationss-KBS Channel 9 and BBC Channel 2-
mainly aired government propaganda.
1980s

In 1980, Channels 2, 9, and 13 moved to the newly-built Broadcast City in

Diliman, Quezon City.

In 1980, Gregorio Cendana was named Minister of Information. GTV Channel 4

became known as the Maharlika Broadcasting System.

When Benigno Aquino was assassinated in 1983, it was a small item on

television news. GMA Channel 7 gave the historic funeral procession 10 seconds of
airtime.

In 1984, Imee Marcos, daughter of Ferdinand Marcos, attempted to take over

GMA Channel 7, just as she did with the Benedictos. However, she was foiled by GMA
executives Menardo Jimenez and Felipe Gozon.

On February 24, 1986, MBS Channel 4 went off the air during a live news
conference in Malacanang and during an exchange between Marcos and then Chief of
Staff General Fabian Ver. The network was eventually taken over by rebel forces and
started broadcasting for the Filipino people.

On September 14, 1986, ABS-CBN Channel 2 made a comeback and resumed

broadcasting after 14 years.

On November 8, 1988, GMA inaugurated the "Tower of Power" its 777-feet,

100kW transmitter, the country's tallest man-made structure.

In 1988, PTV Channel 4, the MBS, was launched as "The People's Station.

1990s

In the 1990s ABS-CBN launched the Sarimanok Home Page, the station's Web
presence, making it the first Philippine network on the Internet.

On February 21, 1992, ABC Channel 5 reopened with a new multi-million-peso

studio complex in Novaliches. By 1996, 89% of Filipinos and 57% of Philippine
households watched television 6-7 days a week.

By 1997, the Children's Television Act (RA 8380), providing for the creation of a
National Council for Children's Media Education, was passed.

By 1997, 57% of Filipino households had at least one television. 100% of those
in class AB had televisions as opposed to only 4% in class E.
 In 1997, the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation successfully launched
Agila II, the country's first satellite.

By 1998, there were 137 television stations nationwide. On April 19, 1998, ZOE
TV 11 of ZOE Broadcasting Network, In., owned by born -again evangelist Eddie
Villanueva, was officially launched.