Hero (TV Channel)

Hero (also known as Hero TV) was a 24-hour Philippine pay television channel created by ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. from 2005 to 2018. The programming was composed primarily of Filipino-dubbed Japanese anime series. It was dubbed as "The First and All Tagalog-dubbed Anime Channel in the Philippines."

In February 2018, Hero was relaunched as a digital web portal operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, providing limited news content on anime, pop culture and gaming.

Background

Much of the content in the channel is attributed to the fact that Creative Programs' parent company ABS-CBN (through its main network) has produced numerous dubs of anime series many years before the launch of Hero, as well as maintained an Animax airing block for quite sometime. Aside from those, the channel also airs anime that have not yet seen in any terrestrial or cable channel shown in the Philippines prior to its first showing in the channel, such as '' Mirmo de Pon!''.

The channel also once featured anime series dubbed by Telesuccess, Inc., the supplier for most of the anime series aired on GMA Network, before transferring them all to TeleAsia. Some of these are ''Love Hina'', ''Rune Soldier'', and ''Shaman King''. Others seen in the channel were previously shown in English on Cartoon Network's Philippine feed (i.e. ''Crush Gear Turbo'') or, in the case of ''Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh'', on government-controlled RPN.

Furthermore, Hero TV featured re-dubs (i.e. producing its own dubbed version of a previous anime series which was already dubbed in Tagalog). Examples of these are ''Mon Colle Knights'', ''Metal Fighter Miku'', ''Zenki'', '' The Slayers'', and ''Voltes V''.

In 2011, undubbed anime was introduced to the channel with accompanying Filipino-language subtitles, in the form of '' Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light'' and the ''Initial D Extra Stage'' OVA. The reason for airing these two anime features in their original Japanese audio is unknown.

Ever since its launch in 2005, Hero TV operated on a daily 18-hour-a-day schedule from 6 AM to 12 midnight during the first months of their operation. In April 2006, the channel expanded its operating hours to 20 hours, thus signing off at 2 AM of the following day. On January 3, 2011, Hero TV finally transitioned into a full 24-hour cable TV service.

In the summer season of 2012, Hero TV starts to greatly increase its lineup of new anime titles beginning with ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds'', ''Toaru Kagaku no Railgun'', ''Naruto Shippūden'', ''Hanasaku Iroha'', and '' Shiki''; as well as airing the first two series of the ''Sailor Moon'' franchise, and a more complete version of the Aniplex-produced '' Jigoku Shoujo''. Except for ''Sailor Moon'', ''Jigoku Shoujo'' and ''Toaru Kagaku no Railgun'', all of these titles have never been aired on Animax before (Animax airs ''Railgun'' and ''Sailor Moon'' in other countries).

Closure and migration to digital media

On December 23, 2017, an Anime Pilipinas article stated that Hero TV will end its broadcast operations on January 31, 2018, due to lack of advertising support and change in business direction. This was further confirmed through a commercial that aired on the channel on January 16, 2018.

During the final day of broadcast on January 31, 2018, Hero TV aired a Facebook live broadcast where its hosts and staffs shared great memories and thanked supporters. After airing a tribute video showing the past anime titles, local programs and events produced or sponsored by the channel, Hero TV signed off for the last time on February 1, 2018, at 12:04 AM, ending with a farewell message and the words "Hero Now Signing Off." Few seconds later, cable providers still receiving Hero TV would see the modified EBU test card reading "ABS-CBN TOC SD" before shutdown until the provider can replace it or automatically scan with another channel, while Sky Cable have replaced Hero TV with Liga, a sports channel that complements the programming of S+A with international and local sports events.

On February 7, 2018, Hero relaunches, and demoted into a digital web portal handled by the Lifestyle team from ABS-CBN Digital Media, but will not carry anime titles nor establish an anime video-on-demand service. It will provide limited news content on anime, pop culture and gaming.

In March 2018, Jeepney TV featured the ''Hero Zone'' (a former anime block of ABS-CBN's main channel in 2006) as a two-hour weekend morning anime block, beginning with ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V'' and ''KonoSuba''. The block was later discontinued in July 2018 to focus on local programming.

Meanwhile, digital channel Yey! (a defunct ABS-CBN TVplus exclusive channel from 2015 to 2020) had aired some previous anime titles aired on Hero TV, while carrying the newest anime titles on Yey! channel including ''Ace of Diamond'', ''My Hero Academia'', ''One-Punch Man'', '' Doraemon (2005 version)'', the final two seasons of ''Naruto Shippūden'', and the first season of '' Boruto: Naruto Next Generations''. The final anime series broadcast on Yey! was '' Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card''; the anime later resumed airing in 2021 on A2Z and completed all episodes.

Previous programming

Notes

References

External links

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Hero
on YouTube
Hero
on Facebook
Hero
on Twitter
Hero
on Instagram

{{Television in the Philippines

ABS-CBN Corporation channels
ABS-CBN Digital Media
Anime television
Assets owned by ABS-CBN Corporation
Creative Programs
Filipino-language television stations
Television networks in the Philippines
Defunct television networks in the Philippines
Television channels and stations established in 2005
2005 establishments in the Philippines
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2018
2018 disestablishments in the Philippines