ABS-CBN (television network)

ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under Lopez Holdings Corporation owned by the López family. The network is headquartered at the ELJ Communications Center and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City, with additional offices and production facilities in 25 major cities including Baguio, Naga, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, and Bulacan, where ABS-CBN's production and post-production facility in Horizon IT Park is located. ABS-CBN is colloquially referred to as the ''Kapamilya'' Network; the branding was originally introduced in 1999 and was officially introduced in 2003 during the celebration of its 50th anniversary and was used until its May 5, 2020 shutdown when the network's branding changed to ''Kapamilya Forever'' in support for the network's franchise renewal on May 13, 2020. ABS-CBN is the largest media company in the country and oldest television broadcaster in Southeast Asia.

ABS-CBN is the first television network in Southeast Asia to broadcast in color, and one of the oldest commercial television broadcasters in Asia. It has also been the leading television network in the Philippines with advertising revenues of 21.2 billion pesos for the fiscal year of 2015. Throughout 2020, ABS-CBN suffered various legal challenges which resulted in the loss of the network's broadcast franchise, and consequently, the ability to broadcast on terrestrial television and radio.

Since the shutdown, the network rebranded itself as a mass content company, producing television programs, films and other entertainment content, through partnerships with independent production companies and broadcasters, including A2Z and TV5. The network's social media accounts are mainly managed by the ABS-CBN Digital Media, which have an estimated less than 100 million followers across multiple social media websites. The network's Entertainment YouTube channel is the most-subscribed and most-viewed channel in Southeast Asia, with over 36.7 million subscribers and over 44.1 billion views, ahead of Thailand's WorkpointTV.

History

Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) was founded on June 13, 1946. BEC was established by James Lindenberg, one of the founding fathers of Philippine television, an American electronics engineer who went into radio equipment assembly and radio broadcasting. At that time, the largest media company was Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), with DZRH as the leading radio station. In 1949, James Lindenberg shifted Bolinao to radio broadcasting with DZBC and masterminded the introduction of television to the country in 1953.

In 1951, Lindenberg partnered with Antonio Quirino, brother of then-Philippine President Elpidio Quirino, in order to try their hand at television broadcasting. In 1952, BEC was renamed as Alto Broadcasting System or ABS (with Alto Sales Corporation as its corporate name). "Alto" was a contraction of Quirino's and his wife's first names, Tony and Aleli. Though they had little money and resources, ABS was able to put up its TV tower by July 1953 and import some 300 television sets. The initial test broadcasts began in September of the same year. The very first full-blown broadcast was on October 23, 1953, of a party in Tony Quirino's humble abode. The television station was known as DZAQ-TV. The first program to air was a garden party at the Quirino residence in Sitio Alto, San Juan. After the premiere telecast, the station followed a four-hour-a-day schedule, from six to ten in the evening.

ABS-CBN's very first-ever television broadcast was on October 23, 1953, as Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) on DZAQ-TV, just 3 months after the first broadcast of Japan's NHK General TV and Nippon Television. It is also the first television network in Southeast Asia to broadcast in color, the first television network in the Philippines to formally launch a digital terrestrial television service, and the first broadcast television network in the Philippines to formally launch in HD.

The flagship television station of ABS-CBN was DWWX-TV (ABS-CBN TV-2 Manila). As such, the network was informally referred to as "Channel 2" or "''dos''" (Spanish for "two") even if the network was seen in other channel numbers elsewhere in the country. The network operated across the Philippine archipelago through the ABS-CBN Regional division which controlled 80 television stations. Its programs are also available outside the Philippines through the global subscription television channel The Filipino Channel (TFC) which is available in over three million paying households worldwide as well as terrestrially in Guam through KEQI-LD. From 2011 to 2020, the network had been on test broadcast for digital terrestrial television using the Japanese standard ISDB-T in select areas in the Philippines. It also partnered with KANTAR Media Inc. the ratings provider of ABS-CBN and other media entity. On October 3, 2015, ABS-CBN started to broadcast in high-definition through its affiliate direct-to-home cable and satellite television providers.

Branding

The ABS-CBN logo features three main elements, the vertical line rooted in a horizontal origin, the three extending circles, and the text ABS-CBN. The vertical line or bar represents a tower (broadcasting tower) as well as dignifying the company and representing its core business of broadcasting, with the circles symbolizing a transmitter tower's signals, and representing the red, green and blue or RGB colors which makes up a pixel shown on the television. The three island groups of the Philippines, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, are also denoted by the three circles, as well as its wide presence, "range for imagination", and its "pioneering, embracing" spirit.

One unique thing about ABS-CBN's logo is that it also has a horizontal version, usually used to save space as the main vertical logo usually takes up more space than the horizontal one. The design of the horizontal version of the logo contains the ABS-CBN text, split into two parts, "ABS" and "CBN", without the dash connecting them, and ABS-CBN's iconic symbol squeezed in between them.

The first logo to have a horizontal version going by this design was the logo launched in 1986, the year they re-launched their operations after 14 years of hibernation under martial law and Marcos' authoritarian rule. From 1986 up until 2014, the elements of the horizontal logo, text, and symbol were evenly sized. In the 2014 version of the horizontal logo, the symbol of ABS-CBN was squeezed in between was slightly larger than the ABS (Alto Broadcasting System) and CBN (Chronicle Broadcasting Network) names.

Channel 2

Channel 2 was used as the frequency of the flagship station of ABS-CBN in Metro Manila from November 14, 1969, to September 23, 1972, and from September 14, 1986, to May 5, 2020. The network started using a channel logo with the "2" logo for use as a promotion from 1969 to 1972 with the slogan "The Family Channel".

After the closure of ABS-CBN due to the declaration of martial law, the DZAQ call sign and the channel 2 frequency were awarded to BBC
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