ABS-CBN was supposed to celebrate its 67th anniversary of being on-air had it not been for the franchise being rejected by the Cayetano-led congress.
On October 23, 1953, the country aired its first TV broadcast in Asia via the DZAQ-TV of Alto Broadcasting System or ABS.
ABS was originally owned by the brother of former President Elpidio Quirino, Antonio Quirino, and the father of Philippine Television James Lindenberg.
However, in 1957 ABS was acquired and merged with the Lopez’s Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN). And on February 1, 1967, CBN was renamed to ABS-CBN, the contraction of Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network.
As a trailblazer, ABS-CBN lead the country’s television industry until it was taken over by the government during the martial law years. But the network was able to bounce back after the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986. Since then ABS-CBN has lorded Philippine TV.
However, a new setback came when the Congress, led by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano voted to reject the ABS-CBN franchise application.
ABS-CBN has been in shutdown since May 5, 2020, following the expiration of their franchise. On July 10, the hope of their return to free to air broadcast was ruined when 70 congressmen voted to reject their franchise application over allegations of violating constitutional provisions of their franchise.
Although several government agencies have already cleared ABS-CBN of any grave violations and even though Cayetano initially said that he cannot imagine the Philippines or a world without ABS-CBN, in the end, he came out against the network’s renewal which was allegedly his gift to President Rodrigo Duterte so he can retain the speakership.
But ABS-CBN didn’t let non-renewal kill their mandate to serve the Filipino people. Although they have made a hard decision of letting go of many of their talents and employees, ABS-CBN managed to continue broadcasting through non-traditional media.
Currently, ABS-CBN has been lording the online platform with their Kapamilya Online Live on YouTube and Facebook. They’re also on cable and satellite TV via the Kapamilya Channel.
And just recently, ABS-CBN shows were able to go back to free TV via its block time agreement with ZOE Broadcasting Network on the newly rebranded A2Z Channel 11.
Slowly, ABS-CBN is regaining its place in Philippine TV and although small, there is renewed hope that with the change in House leadership, ABS-CBN can have another shot at renewing their franchise.
