SolarFlix (formerly ETC) is a

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

owned by the

Southern Broadcasting Network Southern Broadcasting Network, Inc. (SBN) is a Filipino-owned media company based radio and television network based in Metro Manila. SBN is a subsidiary of Solar Entertainment Corporation, a Filipino-owned television company managed by t ...

subsidiary of

Solar Entertainment Corporation Solar Entertainment Corporation (simply known as Solar or SEC) is a Filipino media company based in Makati, Philippines. Founded and owned by the brothers, Wilson, William and Willy Tieng. Solar Entertainment operates two digital free-to-air c ...

. Its digital free-to-air broadcast is carried by SBN's flagship station,

DWCP-DTV DWCP-DTV (channel 21) is a television station in Metro Manila, Philippines, serving as the flagship of the SolarFlix network owned by Southern Broadcasting Network and operated by Solar Entertainment Corporation under subsidiary. Its studios a ...

(channel 21) in

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the seat of government and one of three defined metropolitan areas in ...

. The channel's analog broadcast is fed on its lone provincial TV station,

DXSS-TV DXSS-TV, channel 7 - better known as SBN 7 Davao, is a commercial VHF television station owned and operated by Southern Broadcasting Network, a subsidiary of Solar Entertainment Corporation. Its studios and transmitter are located at SBN Compoun ...

(channel 7) in

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of lan ...

(in which the station currently carries DepEd ALS TV programming). The channel is also carried by cable and satellite providers, including

Sky Cable Sky Cable (stylized as SKYcable) is a cable television service of Sky Cable Corporation in the Philippines. It covers areas across the country with both digital and analog cable services, and it has 700,000 subscribers, controlling 45% of ...

Destiny Cable Destiny Cable (formerly Global Destiny Cable and stylized as DESTINY CABLE) was a direct-to-home cable television subscription service based in Quezon City. Destiny Cable was the 2nd largest cable TV provider in the Philippines. It was owned by ...

, Cablelink, Binangonan Cable TV Corporation,

Cignal Cignal (pronounced as ''signal'') is a Philippine satellite television and IPTV provider, owned by Cignal TV Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the MediaQuest Holdings Inc. under the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund. Cignal's prepaid electronic ...

and SatLite, along with various provincial cable operators and through online streaming. SolarFlix operates daily from 6 am to 12 midnight on Solar's digital free TV (under test broadcast), while it operates 24 hours daily on most pay TV and streaming service providers. However, starting Holy Week 2021, it continues to sign off from

Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the ...

at midnight to

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

at 8:00 am along with its sister channels

Solar Sports Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. " solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indica ...

and Solar Learning. It formerly operated daily from 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight on free-to-air analog TV broadcast until September 2019, when SBN permanently closed its analog signal. SolarFlix broadcasts from Solar's master control facility and studios located at the Third Floor of the Worldwide Corporate Center,

Epifanio de los Santos Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal, sometimes known as Don Pañong or Don Panyong (April 7, 1871 – April 18, 1928), was a noted Filipino historian, journalist, and civil servant.Afan, Carolina L. Epifanio de los Santos y Cristobal. Fili ...

corner

Shaw Boulevard Shaw Boulevard (formerly known as Jose Rizal Boulevard and Pasig Boulevard or commonly known as Crossing) is a 4-8 lane highway connecting the cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig in the Philippines. The boulevard is named after William James Shaw, ...

Mandaluyong Mandaluyong, officially the City of Mandaluyong ( fil, Lungsod ng Mandaluyong), is a first class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 425,758 people. Loca ...

, while Solar office is located at Solar Century Tower, 100 Tordesillas St., Corner H.V. Dela Costa St. Salcedo Village,

Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...

, SBN holds free-to-air broadcasts from its transmitter and tower site located at Nuestra Señora de la Paz Subdivision, Bo. Sta. Cruz,

Antipolo Antipolo, officially known as the City of Antipolo ( fil, Lungsod ng Antipolo), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 887,399 people. It is the ...

, Rizal.

History

As ETC (2003-2022)

On November 24, 2003, ETC was launched as "Entertainment Central". On January 1, 2008, ETC ceased to air over

as a separated channel. As part of the Solar network's blocktime agreements with various terrestrial channels, the channel started airing over SBN 21, a terrestrial UHF TV station in the Philippines. On March 2, 2011, ETC moved to RPN after the channel is private, while Talk TV, a news-oriented channel airing local and US news shows, launched on SBN 21. But, ETC returned to SBN on November 30, 2013, as

Solar News Channel Solar News Channel (SNC) was a major commercial television network in the Philippines, owned by Solar Entertainment Corporation's arm television subsidiary of Solar Television Network lease with its owner by Radio Philippines Network. Its flags ...

moved to RPN on December 1 of 2013 to allow SNC's wider coverage. (SNC and RPN, however, were sold to the ALC Group of Companies chair, Ambassador Antonio Cabangon Chua, in August 2014, due to the Tieng's loss of revenue after investing on RPN.) After its sister channel 2nd Avenue ended broadcasting on June 5 after 12 years of broadcasting, many of its programs moved to ETC. Etc, etc (Philippine TV channel), Feb 2019

Etc, etc (Philippine TV channel), Feb 2019

On November 21, 2018, ETC revealed its new station ID and on-air graphics. At the same time, the network also launched their new slogans, ''In Full Bloom'' and ''#IamETC''.

As SolarFlix (2022-present)

On June 7, 2022, a new channel was teased featuring a voice-over saying that the channel, ''"May bagong kakaaliwan ngayong July. Kaya tutok lang. Sagot ka namin!"'' (). On June 16, 2022, ETC unveiled the new channel and will be relaunched as SolarFlix on July 11, 2022 at 6pm (PST), a Tagalog movie channel that features classic and independent Filipino films (most of which came from Solar Films' archives), and documentaries from local movie festivals similar to

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

's ''

I Heart Movies I Heart Movies (stylized as i ❤ movies) is a Philippine free-to-air television channel owned by GMA Network Inc. The channel was on test broadcast from March 22, 2021, until March 31, 2021, and was officially launched on April 5, 2021. It ai ...

''. Following the rebrand, Solar Entertainment Corporation announced to some cable and satellite TV operators who carry ETC will be replacing the channel with ''ScreamFlix'' by

Jungo TV Jungo TV, LLC (or Jungo) is a privately-held media company that owns and operates television channels and streaming apps founded in 2016. Jungo TV is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in San Diego, Mumbai, and Manila. History Jungo TV w ...

, which carries

Front Row Channel Front Row Channel is a global digital live music channel owned by Jungo TV, based in the United States. The channel specializes in broadcasts of live concerts with featured performances from the world's top musical acts. International distribut ...

and

Hallypop Hallypop is a digital entertainment channel owned by Jungo TV in partnership with Cinedigm, based in the United States. The channel airs programming content from Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) which focuses on Korean variety shows, music, dram ...

on June 20, 2022, leaving SolarFlix as a digital free TV channel.

Programming

The channel targets the young adult demographics. SolarFlix's programming currently consists of Turkish dramas and Latin American telenovelas dubbed in Filipino under the ETCerye block, classic and independent Filipino films, and Hollywood and foreign acquired movies.

Relay and affiliate stations

Ratings

According to National Urban Television Audience Measurement, ETC is the top-ranked female television channel with cable and free TV ratings combined (January 2012 - May 2012) with a 10.33% audience share.

References

External links

Media Ownership Monitor Philippines - Television
by VERA Files and Reporters Without Borders {{Authority control Southern Broadcasting Network Radio Philippines Network Solar Entertainment Corporation channels Television networks in the Philippines Filipino-language television stations Movie channels in the Philippines Television channels and stations established in 2004 2003 establishments in the Philippines Television channels and stations established in 2022