Hero (channel)
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Hero (also known as Hero TV) was a 24-hour
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 ...
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
channel created by
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. from 2005 to 2018. The programming was composed primarily of
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
-dubbed
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
anime series is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening ...
. 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 ABS-CBN Digital Media, commonly known as Digital Media Division, formerly known as ABS-CBN Interactive, is the digital media and internet division of ABS-CBN. It was formerly a separate company operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN C ...
, 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 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 ...
' parent company
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
(through its main network) has produced numerous dubs of anime series many years before the launch of Hero, as well as maintained an
Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...
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 GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
, before transferring them all to
TeleAsia TeleAsia was a Filipino entertainment cable channel based in the Philippines. TeleAsia brings Asianovela from Korea, Taiwan, China and the rest of Asia, as well as Pinoy remakes of Asianovelas. TeleAsia is owned by MyPinoy TV Broadband Inc. in ...
. Some of these are ''
Love Hina is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from October 1998 to October 2001, with the chapters collected into 14 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Kodansha. The ...
'', ''
Rune Soldier is a Japanese light novel series by Ryo Mizuno, which features the apprentice wizard Louie as the hero. The series takes place on the continent of Alecrast on the world called Forcelia, and is related to the series Sword World RPG. It is ...
'', and ''
Shaman King is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. It follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight. Takei chose shamanism as the ma ...
''. Others seen in the channel were previously shown in English on
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
's Philippine feed (i.e. ''
Crush Gear Turbo ''Crush Gear'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise. It aired from October 2001 to January 2003, with 68 episodes. The series is about people throwing mechanical vehicles called "Gears" into a large ...
'') or, in the case of ''
Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh is a 51 episode Japanese anime television series, and the first series produced for the Eldran franchise funded by Tomy and produced by Sunrise. It aired in Japan from April 3, 1991 to March 25, 1992. The story revolves around a group of ele ...
'', 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 ''Mon Colle Knights'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written by Satoru Akahori and Katsumi Hasegawa and illustrated by Hideaki Nishikawa. The original concept was made by Hitoshi Yasuda and Group SNE. The series is based on ...
'', ''
Metal Fighter Miku is a Japanese anime television series created by Hiroyuki Birukawa and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. It was originally broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1994 and animated by J.C.Staff, the studio's first television production. Story ...
'', ''
Zenki is a Japanese manga series written by Kikuhide Tani and illustrated by Yoshihiro Kuroiwa. It was introduced and serialized in the Shueisha publication, '' Monthly Shōnen Jump'' from December 1992 to September 1996. ''Zenki'' was adapted int ...
'', '' The Slayers'', and ''
Voltes V , popularly known as simply ''Voltes V '' (pronounced as "Voltes Five") is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Dōga and animated by Nippon Sunrise (formerly known as Soeisha). It is the second installment of the '' Robot R ...
''. 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 is the second main spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, succeeding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump and the 15th anniversary of V Jump. The series aired in Japan from April 2, 2008 to Ma ...
'', ''
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Motoi Fuyukawa, which began serialization in the April 2007 issue of ASCII Media Works' '' Dengeki Daioh'' magazine. The manga is a spin-off of Kamachi's ''A Ce ...
'', ''
Naruto Shippūden ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
'', ''
Hanasaku Iroha , or ''Hanairo'' for short, is a Japanese 26-episode anime television series produced by P.A. Works and directed by Masahiro Andō. The screenplay was written by Mari Okada, with original character design by Mel Kishida. P.A. Works produced t ...
'', and '' Shiki''; as well as airing the first two series of the ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...
'' franchise, and a more complete version of the
Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both ''Fullm ...
-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 Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * 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 ABS-CBN Digital Media, commonly known as Digital Media Division, formerly known as ABS-CBN Interactive, is the digital media and internet division of ABS-CBN. It was formerly a separate company operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN C ...
, 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 Jeepney TV is a 24-hour Television in the Philippines, Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation, ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. since 2012. The programming consists of classic and archived ser ...
featured the ''Hero Zone'' (a former anime block of
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
's main channel in 2006) as a two-hour weekend morning anime block, beginning with ''
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V , sylized as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V'', is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fourth spin-off anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise following '' Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal''. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 6, 20 ...
'' and ''
KonoSuba is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsume Akatsuki. The series follows Kazuma Sato, a boy who is sent to a fantasy world with MMORPG elements following his death, where he forms a dysfunctional adventuring party wi ...
''. The block was later discontinued in July 2018 to focus on local programming. Meanwhile, digital channel
Yey! Yey! (stylized as YeY! or YEY!) was a Philippine children's pay television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in ...
(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 is a Japanese baseball-themed manga series written and illustrated by Yuji Terajima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from May 2006 to January 2015. A sequel titled ''Ace of Diamon ...
'', ''
My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 2014, with its chapters additionally collected into ...
'', ''
One-Punch Man is a Japanese superhero manga series created by One. It tells the story of Saitama, a superhero who, because he can defeat any opponent with a single punch, grows bored from a lack of challenge. One wrote the original webcomic manga v ...
'', '' Doraemon (2005 version)'', the final two seasons of ''
Naruto Shippūden ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
'', 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 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 completed all episodes.


Previous programming


Notes


References


External links

*
Hero
on
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Hero
on
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Hero
on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Hero
on
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
{{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