Knowledge Channel (abbreviated as KCh and stylized in all
capital letters
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''#Majuscule, majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''#Minuscule, minuscule'') in the written representation of certain langua ...
) is a
Philippine 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 subscri ...
television channel owned by
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...
that consists of educational and informative programs. The channel is available on digital TV via
BEAM TV,
Sky Cable,
Sky Direct,
Converge Vision,
Cignal,
Parasat Cable TV,
G Sat,
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 opera ...
,
Planet Cable and other cable providers. It also livestreams online via
iWantTFC while a
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...
service is available on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
History
Elvira "Rina" M. López-Bautista established the non-profit organization Sky Foundation, Inc. in 1996; it would later be renamed to Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) in 2003. The Knowledge Channel started broadcasting on November 18, 1996 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''.
On November 6, 1999, the channel relaunched with its famous logo and on screen graphics.
In 2015, the channel started airing on digital TV via
ABS-CBN TV Plus
ABS-CBN TV Plus (formerly Sky TV+ and stylized as ABS-CBN TVplus, repackaged in 2021 as ABS-CBN TVplus Digital TV Receiver) is a Philippine ISDB, ISDB-T encrypted digital terrestrial television provider owned and operated by ABS-CBN Convergence ...
. It went off-air on June 30, 2020, following an alias cease-and-desist order issued by the
National Telecommunications Commission in connection with the
expiration of ABS-CBN's congressional 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 operated 24 hours daily with the launch of ''School at Home''. The move made the channel as one of the country's
distance learning outlets, as a result of lockdown measures caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, which forced schools to cancel in-person activities.
On October 5, 2021, Knowledge Channel resumed its digital TV broadcast through a partnership with
Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, owned by the Bethlehem Holdings, Inc., a media investment company of
Globe Telecom's Group Retirement Fund. In addition, the channel reverted to its regular broadcast operations from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm.
Since August 22, 2022, the channel renamed ''School at Home'' into ''School Anywhere'', following the gradual resumption of on-site classes in the Philippines.
Programming
See also
*
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...
*
Pilipinas HD (defunct channel)
*
Solar Learning
Solar Learning is a Philippine educational UHF television channel which broadcasts as a relay feed of the DepEd TV programming service. It is owned by Solar Entertainment Corporation in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd).
...
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
*
{{Television in the Philippines
1996 establishments in the Philippines
ABS-CBN Corporation channels
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 1996