ABS-CBN Corporation is a Filipino media company based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the largest entertainment and media conglomerate in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation which is owned by the

López family López is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", ''Lope'' itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin ''lupus'', meaning "wolf". Its Portuguese and Galician equivalent is ''Lopes'', its Ital ...

ABS-CBN was formed by the merger of Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) and Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN). ABS was founded in 1946 by American electronics engineer James Lindenberg as Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC). In 1952, BEC was renamed Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) with its corporate name, Alto Sales Corporation after Judge Antonio Quirino, brother of President Elpidio Quirino, purchased the company and later launched the first TV station in the country,

DZAQ-TV DWWX-TV, Channel 2, was the flagship VHF station of Philippine television network ABS-CBN. The station was owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation with its studio and transmitter located at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center, Sgt. Esguerra Av ...

on October 23, 1953. The company that would later be merged with ABS to form ABS-CBN was founded in 1956 as Chronicle Broadcasting Network, Inc. (CBN) by

Eugenio Lopez Sr. Eugenio is an Italian and Spanish masculine given name deriving from the Greek ' Eugene'. The name is Eugénio in Portuguese and Eugênio in Brazilian Portuguese. The name's translated literal meaning is well born, or of noble status. Similar de ...

and his brother Fernando Lopez, who was the sitting Vice President of the Philippines. A year later, the Lopezes acquired ABS. The ABS-CBN brand was first used on television in 1961. The company became known as ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation on February 1, 1967. The conglomerate started to adapt the ABS-CBN Corporation name on May 27, 2010 to reflect the company's diversification, although the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation name is still used alternatively on some uses. The common shares of ABS-CBN were first traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange in July 1992 under the ticker symbol ABS. The conglomerate mainly focus as a content company, which includes producing television programs, films and other entertainment contents and distributions.

History

The company was founded on June 13, 1946, as Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC). 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

. On June 16, 1955, Republic Act No. 1343 signed by President Ramon Magsaysay granted the ''

Manila Chronicle The ''Manila Chronicle'' was a newspaper in the Philippines founded in 1945. Its founding newspapermen sold it to Eugenio López, Sr. It was closed down when martial law was imposed by Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos ...

'' its broadcasting franchise, leading to the formation of the Chronicle Broadcasting Network. The Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) was founded on September 24, 1956 by

and the then-Philippine Vice President Fernando Lopez. The network initially focused only on radio broadcasting. It launched its very own TV station, DZXL-TV 9, on April 19 (or July), 1958. On February 24, 1957, Don Eugenio acquired ABS from Quirino and Lindenberg. A month later, Don Eugenio also acquired Monserrat Broadcasting System. In 1958, the network's new headquarters at Dewey Boulevard were inaugurated, and all radio and television operations were consolidated into its two buildings – the radio stations at the Chronicle Building at Aduana Street, Intramuros, Manila and the TV operations at the brand new Dewey Boulevard building in Pasay,

Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The p ...

. The ABS-CBN brand was first used in 1961. However, it was only on February 1, 1967, that the corporate name was changed to ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation. Before it was named ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, the corporate name was Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC).

YouTube hacking incident

On November 3, 2020, the YouTube channels of ABS-CBN News and ANC 24/7 were terminated for several hours, allegedly due to a “violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service.” It is unclear what the violation was, however, it was later confirmed by YouTube that the channels were targeted by hackers instead. Both channels were reinstated on the same day, at around at 3:58 P.M (PHT).

Assets and subsidiaries

ABS-CBN Corporation owns major of media and entertainment companies in the Philippines, and offers services and products such as television and radio broadcast, satellite and cable,

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

, telecommunications,

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, content production and program and film distributor, television production,

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

, new media and digital platforms, talent agencies, pay TV and broadband internet provider, consumer sales and

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

, music label and recording, and theater. The group owns and operates Kapamilya Channel and

ABS-CBN News Channel ABS-CBN News Channel, commonly known as ANC, is a 24/7 Philippine pay television news channel. It was launched in 1996 as the first all-news network in English language. The majority of its programs are produced by ABS-CBN News. The channel is ...

under ABS-CBN as well as the Teleradyo and MOR Entertainment digital radio networks. The Kapamilya Channel, in particular, is the largest contributor to the group's revenue mainly from selling airtime to advertisers. The remaining revenue is generated from block-timing with

A2Z A2Z may refer to: *A2Z (2006 film), a 2006 German action film *A2Z (TV channel), a Philippine television channel **A2Z News Alert, a Philippine television newscast broadcast by A2Z (TV channel) *A2Z Group A2Z Group is an engineering, procurement ...

and TV5 as well as from consumer sales, mainly from ABS-CBN Global Ltd. and ABS-CBN International, which distributes international television channels such as TFC HD, ANC Global, Cinema One Global, Cine Mo! Global, Teleradyo Global and Myx Global and also from pay TV and broadband internet provider Sky Cable Corporation. Other companies which operate under the ABS-CBN group are motion picture companies under ABS-CBN Film Productions, such as

Star Cinema ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (doing business as Star Cinema or ABS-CBN Films) is a Philippines, Filipino film studio and film and television production company and film distributor headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the major film ...

, Cinema One Originals, Cine Bro and Black Sheep Productions, television production companies ABS-CBN Entertainment, Dreamscape Entertainment,

Star Creatives ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (doing business as Star Cinema or ABS-CBN Films) is a Filipino film studio and film and television production company and film distributor headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the major film studios in th ...

, RCD Narratives, JRB Creative Production and RGE Drama Unit under RSB Scripted Format, entertainment and film production Star Magic Studio (under Star Magic), online ticketing and streaming site

KTX Korea Train eXpress (), often known as KTX (), is South Korea's high-speed rail system, operated by Korail. Construction began on the high-speed line from Seoul to Busan in 1992. KTX services were launched on April 1, 2004. From Seoul Station the ...

, they also operate music recording labels under ABS-CBN Music, such as

Star Music Star Music (stylized in lowercase as starmusic; formerly known as Star Records), is a record label in the Philippines owned and operated by media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. It was formerly a separate company operating as a wholly owned su ...

and its subsidiaries, Tarsier Records, and MYX Global, publishing firm ABS-CBN Publishing and ABS-CBN Books, pay TV content provider and distributor

Creative Programs Creative Programs, Inc., also known as CPI, is a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation that operates and distributes pay TV channels and provides pay-per-view services to direct-to-home satellite and cable television providers in the Philippines. Sin ...

, telecommunications company ABS-CBN Convergence which owned by the company with 68% co-owned with Globe Telecom, and talent agencies Star Magic, its divisions such as Star Hunt,

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

, and Rise Artists Studio. They also operate the main entertainment and production division of ABS-CBN, Star Creatives Group. Among the pay TV networks and channels under the ABS-CBN group are ANC,

Cinema One Cinema One (also called C1 and stylized as C1NEMAONE) is a Philippine pay television channel targeted to the Filipino diaspora. It is owned by Creative Programs Inc., a subsidiary of Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. Its progr ...

Cine Mo! Cine Mo! (; stylized as CINEMO! and formerly known as SineBox) is a Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation and ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (content provider) and it was one of the former freemium channe ...

, Jeepney TV, Kapamilya Channel, Knowledge Channel,

Metro Channel Metro Channel (formerly Lifestyle (Network), visually rendered in its logo in all capital letters as METRO CHANNEL) is a Philippine pay television channel based in Quezon City. It is owned by Creative Programs Inc., a subsidiary of media congl ...

, Myx and TeleRadyo. In recent years, ABS-CBN has ventured and diversified in other businesses such as over-the-top platform iWant TFC, TFC IPTV and web-based channel Kapamilya Online Live. Both iWant TFC and Kapamilya Online Live are under ABS-CBN Digital Media, a new media and digital division under ABS-CBN which also handles news.ABS-CBN.com and ABS-CBN.com. ABS-CBN is also the principal owner of the

ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra The ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra is a Filipino radio orchestra based in Manila. It was founded in 2012 with financial support from ABS-CBN and First Philippine Holdings. It is composed of 40 instrumentalists. The orchestra's musical director ...

. It also owns ABS-CBN Studios, Inc. which operates its production facilities nationwide, including the

ABS-CBN Soundstage The ABS-CBN Soundstage at the Horizon IT Park, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, is the main production facility of ABS-CBN. It is owned by ABS-CBN Corporation, operated and managed by ABS-CBN Studios, Inc. Although the original plan is to have a to ...

located in Bulacan and Regional production facilities. And the newly relaunched theater arm of ABS-CBN, Teatro Kapamilya. Aside from the ABS-CBN Soundstage, ABS-CBN also has other real estate properties for the company's operations.

Notes

References

* John A. Lent (1971). ''Philippine Mass Communication Before 1811 and After 1966''. Manila: Philippine Press Institute. * John A. Lent (1978). ''Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific: A Continental Survey of Radio and Television''. Philadelphia: Temple University. * ''Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas: The 1996 KBP Media Factbook''. Makati:

Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP; en, Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines) is a broadcast media organization in the Philippines which provides its members broadcasting standards. The KBP was organized on April 27, 19 ...

. 1996 * Cecille Matutina (1999). ''Pinoy Television: The Story of ABS-CBN''. Quezon City: Benpres Publishing, Inc. * Raul S. De Vera (2000). ''Philippine Studies Vol. 48, No. 2''. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University * Philip Kitley (2003). ''Television, Regulation and Civil Society in Asia''. London: Routledge. * Michael Keane (2003). ''Television Across Asia: TV Industries, Programme Formats and Globalisation''. London: Routledge. * Raul Rodrigo (2006). ''Kapitan: Geny Lopez and the Making of ABS-CBN''. Quezon City:

ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. This is a list of subsidiaries owned by ABS-CBN Corporation, a Philippine media and entertainment conglomerate based in Quezon City. This also includes business segments that are owned and operated by the company including its blocktime agreeme ...

* Jonathan Woodier (2009). ''The Media and Political Change in Southeast Asia: Karaoke Culture and the Evolution of Personality Politics''.

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Edward Elgar Publishing Edward Elgar Publishing is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources in the social sciences and law. The company also publishes a social science and law blog with regular contributions from leading scholars. About Edwa ...

. * Horace Newcomb (2014). ''Encyclopedia of Television 4 Vol Set''. London: Routledge. * Jinna Tay, Graeme Turner, Koichi Iwabuchi (November 30, 2014). ''Television Histories in Asia: Issues and Contexts''. London: Routledge. * Jonathan Corpus Ong (May 15, 2015). ''The Poverty of Television: The Mediation of Suffering in Class-Divided Philippines''. Anthem Press. * Ella G. Mangabat (October 17, 2003).
Years of service to the Filipino: The ABS-CBN story
. '' Philippine Daily Inquirer'' * James Hookway (June 23, 2004).
Filipino Broadcaster ABS-CBN Finds Growing Audience Overseas
. '' The Wall Street Journal'' * David Englander (October 15, 2014).
ABS-CBN: Philippine Broadcaster Sends Strong Buy Signal - Shares of the Philippines’ largest TV broadcaster can rise near 50% as the country continues its rapid growth.
'' Barron's'' * David Englander (March 11, 2015).
ABS-CBN: Philippine Broadcaster Can Rise 25% - Philippines’ largest TV broadcaster has surged since we recommended shares last year. Stay long.
'' Barron's'' * Mark Yu (August 26, 2016).
ABS-CBN May Be Worth Your Investment - The Philippine media broadcasting leader offers some value
. GuruFocus.com
Media Ownership Monitor Philippines - Media Companies: A Duopoly Rules
by VERA Files and

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

External links