Knowledge Channel (abbreviated as KCh) 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 channel owned by
ABS-CBN
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 L ...
that consists of educational and informative programs. The channel is available on digital TV via
BEAM TV,
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 ...
,
Sky Direct,
Cignal,
Parasat Cable TV,
G Sat
G-Sat (''Global Satellite'') is a subscription-based direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service commercially available in the Philippines. G-Sat is owned by Global Satellite Technology Services (GSTS), registered in the Philippines with t ...
,
Cablelink
Cablelink (formerly known as Conception Pay TV Network) is a subscription-based cable antenna television system operator and broadband Internet service provider in the Philippines which commenced its CATV operation in 1995. It is owned and operate ...
and other cable providers. It also livestreams online via
iWantTFC
iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In a ...
while a
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
service is available on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
.
History
Elvira "Rina" M. López-Bautista established the non-profit organization Sky Foundation, Inc. in June 1999; it would later be renamed the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) in 2003. The Knowledge Channel began broadcasting on November 6, 1999, replaced The FYI Channel on Sky Cable channel 16 (later moved to channel 42 and now to channel 5) with 18 hours of educational programs on cable television that supplemented the curriculum of the
Department of Education, Culture and Sports (later the Department of Education). The foundation entered into a 10-year
memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the department, with the latter proclaiming the channel as required viewing in all public schools in 2000 and has since then renewed its partnership with another 10 year MoA signed in November 2009. KCFI's first two original programs are ''Kasaysayan TV'' and ''
Pamana''.
In 2015, the channel started airing on digital TV via
ABS-CBN TV Plus. It went off-air on June 30, 2020, following an alias cease-and-desist order issued by the
National Telecommunications Commission
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; fil, Pambansang Komisyon sa Telekomunikasyon) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over a ...
in connection with the
expiration of ABS-CBN franchise.
As of 2019, Bautista is the President and Executive Director of KCFI, with Oscar M. López as Chairman and
Carlo Katigbak as Vice-President.
In August 2020, the channel operates at 24/7 with the launch of ''School at Home''.
On October 5, 2021, Knowledge Channel resumed its digital TV broadcast through a partnership with the
Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media
Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, Inc. (BEAM) is a telecommunications company in the Philippines with primary focus on UHF broadcasting and digital terrestrial television for the convergence of multimedia. It is owned by Bethlehem Ho ...
, owned by the Bethlehem Holdings, Inc., a media investment company of
Globe Telecom
Globe Telecom, Inc., commonly shortened as Globe, is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. The company operates the largest mobile network in the Philippines and one of the largest fixed-line and broadband networks ...
's Group Retirement Fund. In addition, the channel reverted to its regular broadcast operations from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm.
Programs
References
Further reading
Lopez Link: "Knowledge Channel leads change through media, gains support", March 2010.Lopez Link: "Dulany Rockefeller joins Knowledge Channel in ‘Lead the Change’", January 2010.
External links
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{{Television in the Philippines
1999 establishments in the Philippines
ABS-CBN Corporation channels
Assets owned by ABS-CBN Corporation
Department of Education (Philippines)
Educational and instructional television channels
Filipino-language television stations
Philippines educational programs
Television networks in the Philippines
Television channels and stations established in 1999