A2Z is a Philippine

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 subscri ...

blocktime

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

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

based in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

, with its studios located in

Ortigas Center Ortigas Center (also known as the Ortigas Central Business District or Ortigas CBD) is a central business district located within the joint boundaries of Pasig, Mandaluyong and Quezon City, within Metro Manila in the Philippines. With an area o ...

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

. It serves as a flagship property of ZOE Broadcasting Network, the broadcast media arm of Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide, in partnership with

ABS-CBN Corporation ABS-CBN Corporation is a Mass media in the Philippines, Filipino Media conglomerate, media company based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the largest entertainment television and film production, Broadcast syndication, progra ...

as its main content provider through a blocktime agreement. A2Z's flagship

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

is DZOE-TV which operates on channel 11 (analog broadcast), and channel 20 (digital broadcast). The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letter of the names of two media companies,

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

and ZOE, and the channel number of the now-recalled frequency of the former network (which is now owned by Advanced Media Broadcasting System's All TV).

History

ZOE TV-11

DZOE-TV Channel 11, also known as ZOE TV-11 was launched in 1998 after being acquired from Delta Broadcasting System. It served as the television arm of Jesus is Lord Church led by Eddie Villanueva. In 2005, ZOE TV-11 was leased by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions, subsidiary of

GMA Network GMA Network (an acronym of its legal name, Global Media Arts and commonly known as GMA) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine commercial broadcast network, serving as the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network (company), ...

, to serve as originating station for its secondary television networks QTV/Q and GMA News TV (now GTV). However, on April 24, 2019, GMA/Citynet announced that it will terminate its blocktime agreement with ZOE Broadcasting by the end of May 2019. The split comes after the release of GMA's 2018 financial report which declared the increasing lease payments that the network contributes to ZOE for the past three years (from in 2016 to almost a billion pesos in 2018). GMA News TV disaffiliated from ZOE TV-11 on June 4, 2019, before the channel signed off the next day. On June 22, 2020, ZOE TV-11 returned on air and carried the feed of Light TV as part of its test broadcast operations, but on June 26, the simulcast was replaced by Hillsong Channel, which is owned by

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...

, before reverting to Light TV feed on July 11. It was rumored to be part of marketing the channel to either possibly continuing the analog simulcast of their sister station UHF 33 or for the airtime leasing.

ABS-CBN shutdown and agreement rumors

On May 5, 2020, the broadcast operations of

, including Channel 2, ABS-CBN Sports and Action, DZMM Radyo Patrol, My Only Radio, all digital television channels of

ABS-CBN TV Plus ABS-CBN TV Plus (formerly Sky TV+ and stylized as ABS-CBN TVplus, repackaged in 2021 as ABS-CBN TVplus Digital TV Receiver) is a Philippine ISDB, ISDB-T encrypted digital terrestrial television provider owned and operated by ABS-CBN Convergence ...

(on June 30), direct broadcast via satellite of Sky Direct (on June 30) and AMCARA (on June 30) were all put off the air after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

Jose Calida issued a series of cease-and-desist orders demanding ABS-CBN to immediately cease all of its free-to-air television and radio broadcasting upon the expiration of its legislative broadcast franchise. The Congress rejected ABS-CBN's application for franchise renewal on July 10, and the NTC recalled all the broadcast frequencies assigned to ABS-CBN on September 10. ABS-CBN resumed its broadcast programming through the launch of cable and satellite television network Kapamilya Channel on June 13, where it carried ABS-CBN's local dramas, live entertainment shows and news programming before the May 5 stoppage. Since 2017, ZOE Broadcasting Network and ABS-CBN Corporation were reportedly holding talks for possible airtime lease of Channel 11 or acquisition of the network itself if the issues regarding ABS-CBN's now-expired broadcast franchise were ever floated. Reports of a blocktime agreement between ABS-CBN and ZOE began to surface after the Congress rejected ABS-CBN franchise renewal in July 2020, with a tentative schedule offering for broadcasting 20 hours of airtime on Channel 11, and ABS-CBN programs were shopped to air on ZOE TV. The programs of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs were initially declined to broadcast on Channel 11 by the ZOE management due to editorial concerns until January 1, 2022, when ''

TV Patrol ''TV Patrol'' is a Philippine television news broadcasting show broadcast by ABS-CBN, Kapamilya Channel, A2Z and All TV. Originally anchored by Noli de Castro, Mel Tiangco and Robert Arevalo, it premiered on March 2, 1987, on the netw ...

'' officially began the simulcast of its weekend edition, and its regular edition on January 3, marking its return to free-to-air television, almost two years since the newscast made its final broadcast on the original Channel 2.

Launch and broadcasting

On October 6, 2020, through separate statements, ABS-CBN and ZOE TV publicly announced the blocktime agreement and rebranding of Channel 11 into A2Z, more than a year after being disaffiliated from GMA News TV (now GTV) and five months after the Channel 2 shutdown. The announcement came a day after

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 th ...

, ABS-CBN's cable television arm, added ZOE TV 11 to the channel lineup. Meanwhile, a month after the launching of A2Z, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was reportedly investigating ABS-CBN and ZOE Broadcasting Network to determine if the said blocktime agreement of the two stations were processed in legal ways. On November 12, 2020, A2Z began its broadcast on digital terrestrial television. The channel is available on most digital TV boxes.

Partnership with PCMC and digital terrestrial expansion

On September 18, 2021, A2Z entered a partnership agreement with Philippine Collective Media Corporation for affiliation to broadcast the network via Channel 12 in selected parts of Eastern Visayas. In January 2022, the National Telecommunications Commission granted a provisional authority for ZOE, to utilize UHF channel 20 for its DTT operations; this allowed the network to transmit both A2Z and its sister channel Light TV terrestrially outside Metro Manila. In January 2025, A2Z Cebu station was upgraded as a semi-satellite, serving as originating broadcaster of weekly local magazine show ''Bisaya Ni'' produced by ABS-CBN Regional (its first program since July 2020) and it is being distributed to its sister stations in Visayas and Mindanao.

Programming

As part of the agreement between ABS-CBN and ZOE TV, the list of all television original programming by A2Z focuses on entertainment and news programs produced by ABS-CBN from Kapamilya Channel, serving as its main free-to-air broadcast affiliate. In addition, similar to its previous airtime lease with GMA/Citynet for Channel 11, A2Z features content from ZOE TV's sister station Light TV and its content partners CBN Asia and

. An independent late-night newscast ''Balitang A2Z'' and afternoon bulletin ''Ulat A2Z'' is also shown every weekdays.

Availability

A2Z is seen via ZOE TV's flagship station DZOE-TV Channel 11 in Mega Manila. It also available via digital terrestrial UHF channel 20 in Mega Manila, Cebu, Iloilo/Bacolod, Davao and Cagayan de Oro, UHF channel 32 in Baguio and UHF channel 50 (via PCMC) in Tacloban.

References

External links

* {{Television in the Philippines 2020 establishments in the Philippines ZOE Broadcasting Network Filipino-language television stations Television networks in the Philippines Television channels and stations established in 2020