The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, is a 24-hour global subscription television network based in Daly City, California with studios in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

and offices in Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, UAE, Ethiopia, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Middle East, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. It is owned and operated by the Filipino media conglomerate

ABS-CBN Corporation 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 b ...

. Its programming is composed primarily of imported programs from Filipino cable channel Kapamilya Channel and programs produced and distributed by

ABS-CBN Entertainment ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under L ...

(entertainment) and

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs, known on-air as ABS-CBN News (formerly known as ''ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs'' and later ''ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs''), is the news and current affairs production and distribution divis ...

(news and current affairs), while the ABS-CBN television network is currently inactive due to its shutdown. TFC is available globally on

direct-to-home Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

, Internet Protocol television,

online streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

and on other over-the-top content platforms. TFC is targeted to the Filipino diaspora, and was launched on September 24, 1994, becoming the world's first trans-Pacific Asian broadcaster. As of 2016, The Filipino Channel has over three million subscribers worldwide in over 40 countries across 4 continents, most of whom are in the United States, Middle East, Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. It has successfully completed its migration to high-definition in all of its international feed with its

EMEA EMEA is a shorthand designation meaning Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The acronym is used by institutions and governments, as well as in marketing and business when referring to this region: it is a shorthand way of referencing the two ...

feed the last to convert on February 20, 2021. It is the first and only Philippine-based cable network worldwide to be broadcast in HD to date.

History

While TFC traces its origins to 1994, the idea of broadcasting television programming via satellite to the millions of the

Filipino diaspora An overseas Filipino ( fil, Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin—i.e., people who trace back their ancestry to the Philippines but living or residing outside the country. This term generally applies to ...

everywhere in the world was an innovative idea that the then ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation (now

) took in the late 1980s, just as it began its road of reconstruction after the brutal and infamous years of Martial Law and the post-EDSA People Power era. As the network in 1989 began to become once more the Philippines' leading television network, the network finally made the bold step to begin satellite transmissions to Filipinos abroad when in the fall of that very year, ABS-CBN programs were broadcast via satellite to the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

, especially to the Filipino families living in Guam and Saipan, making it the first ever Philippine television network to broadcast to viewers outside the country via satellite. On September 24, 1994, ABS-CBN, through its newly established subsidiary ABS-CBN International, signed a historic deal with the PanAmSat to bring the first trans-Pacific Asian programming service to some two million Filipino immigrants in the United States using the then-newly launched PAS 2 satellite. The following day, TFC was officially launched, first as a cable only network serving millions of Filipino Americans countrywide. The first headquarters of TFC was built in a garage in Daly City, California with only eight employees doing all the tasks from managing the phones, the computers, and the like. By 1995, TFC has grown to 25,000 subscribers in the United States. Airings of Mara Clara and other programming aired during the daytime and night in 1997 Esperanza and Mula Sa Puso where the biggest programs on TFC By 2004, TFC has grown to 250,000 subscribers in the United States. This growth led to the expansion of TFC to other territories in the world. In 2005, ABS-CBN International signed an affiliation agreement with DirecTV, one of the leading DTH providers in the United States. Under the deal, DirecTV has the exclusive right to distribute the TFC package on its DTH platform. In return, DirecTV will pay license fees to ABS-CBN and to ABS-CBN International. Later that year, the now defunct and award-winning internet television service TFC Now! was launched. This was later replaced by TFC.tv video streaming website. In this year, ABS-CBN International acquired San Francisco International Gateway from Loral Space & Communications. SFIG is a

telecommunications port A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

company based in Richmond, California. SFIG provides satellite communications services through its 2.5 acre (1 hectare) facility consisting of 19 satellite dish antennas and 9 modular equipment buildings. ABS-CBN International received

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

licensing approval in April 2006. Also in this year, ABS-CBN International opened its state-of-the-art studio and office in

. In 2006, SFIG successfully handled the

pay per view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

distribution to

In Demand In Demand (stylized as iN DEMAND) is an American cable television service which provides video on demand services, including pay-per-view. Comcast, Cox Communications, and Charter Communications (with former independent companies Time Warner Cab ...

and DirecTV for the

Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar Larios Manny is a common nickname for people with the given name Manuel, Emanuele, Immanuel, Emmanuel, Herman, or Manfred. People * Manny Acosta Manuel Alcides Acosta Molinar (born May 1, 1981) is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher who ...

super featherweight championship title fight. SFIG's customers include Discovery Communications,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

among others. SFIG is a member of the World Teleport Association. In 2007, ABS-CBN Global launched Myx (now

Myx TV Myx (pronounced "mix") is an American pay TV channel based in Daly City, California with an office also in Redwood City, California targeting a multicultural audience. As a sister network to Myx (Philippines), it launched in the United States ...

), the first and only television channel in the United States that is targeted to the Asian-American youth audience. As of 2011, TFC has over 2.47 million subscribers worldwide. In the same year, TFC changed their logo. As of 2015, The Filipino Channel has over three million subscribers worldwide most of which are in United States, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, Africa, Canada and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia). In March 2012, ABS-CBN Global has chosen Etere to integrate its production facility for TFC. The ABS-CBN facility manages 24 channels with 3 different video servers in 3 different formats.(NLE). On February 23, 2018, TFC IPTV and TFC Direct via cable and satellite subscribers had instant online access to TFC Online (now iWantTFC) with TFC Everywhere (TVE) feature. In early February 2021, seven ''TFC'' channels went live with Amagi cloud platform to consolidate its play-out operations on the cloud to expand its reach and gain greater flexibility. Amagi is a global leader in SaaS for broadcast and streaming TV. ABS-CBN now manages end-to-end workflow on the cloud, eliminating the need for expensive hardware and broadcast center operations, giving it the flexibility to run its global channels with live news from anywhere. Amagi clients include

A+E Networks A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company ...

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

Discovery Networks Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

and Warner Media, among others. There are currently 7 different international feeds broadcasting to Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Guam-Australia-New Zealand, USA East, USA West and Canada.

Programming

The program line-up of The Filipino Channel is composed primarily of programs from

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

, a national television network in the Philippines. Programming ranging from news, public affairs, documentaries, public service, reality shows, soap operas, teleseryes, talk shows, sitcoms, gag shows, live events, and other formats and genres are shown on TFC in a slightly delayed basis and are synchronized automatically depending on the location of the broadcast. TFC also airs some programs produced abroad by ABS-CBN's foreign subsidiaries in United States, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Europe. These are generally not aired on ABS-CBN's main domestic channel but some are shown on ANC several hours or days after their original airing. In 2007 the short lived Hero TV on TFC aired in April 2007-August 2007 and since 2019, most of

iWant iWantTFC is a Filipino Over-the-top media services, over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services ...

original programs and films are also aired on the channel, as well as on TFC IPTV and TFC Online (formerly ABS-CBN now). TFC has been relatively unaffected by the ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy which started May 6, 2020, after the network's legislative franchise to operate domestically over-the-air expired the day before, as it is not under the purview of the

National Telecommunications Commission The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; fil, Pambansang Komisyon sa Telekomunikasyon) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over a ...

. On February 1, 2021, The Filipino Channel relaunched its programming lineup with new shows and more viewing options with the classification of four blocks: Early Mornings, FUNanghalian, Teleserye Playback and Primetime Bida, similar to Kapamilya Channel.

iWantTFC

On September 1, 2020, TFC Online its online streaming merged with iWant made the service accessible worldwide and was soft launched as

iWantTFC iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In ad ...

TFC Direct

In 1996, TFC Direct! was launched, an independently operated direct-to-home cable and satellite television service that incorporates the TV channels Sarimanok News Network (now ABS-CBN News Channel), Pinoy Blockbuster Channel (now Cinema One), Pinoy Central (later renamed as Kapamilya Channel, then it was replaced by Bro, and it was replaced again by now-defunct ABS-CBN Sports + Action (S+A)), and the radio channels DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 and WRR 101.9 For Life! (now MOR 101.9).

Filipino On Demand

Filipino On Demand (FOD) is a video on demand service providing access to Filipino films, ABS-CBN classic shows and live concerts each month available on various cable providers in USA, Canada, Singapore and UAE.

TFC IPTV

Launched on April 30, 2007, TFC IPTV (formerly known as TFCko) is an

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...

and

(VOD) service distributed around the world under the brand of The Filipino Channel. To avail of the service, users must acquire the TFC IPTV

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

, connect the box to a TV set (HDMI for HDTVs, composite for SDTVs) and broadband internet through WiFi or Ethernet (requires 2 Mbit/s minimum speed), and subscribe to monthly subscription. The channel line up will depend on the subscription package availed and may include the live-streaming of TV channels The Filipino Channel,

, the international feeds of ABS-CBN News Channel, Cinema One, Cine Mo!,

Jeepney TV Jeepney TV is a 24-hour Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. since 2012. The programming consists of classic and archived series and programs previously aired on ABS-CBN. The c ...

Knowledge Channel Knowledge Channel (abbreviated as KCh) is a Philippine free-to-air television channel owned by ABS-CBN that consists of educational and informative programs. The channel is available on digital TV via BEAM TV, Sky Cable, Sky Direct, Cignal, ...

as well as radio channels Teleradyo and My Only Radio (Manila station), and an in-house interactive

Karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

channel. Aside from the live-streaming of ABS-CBN channels, the service also includes a

feature that allow users to watch, pause, rewind, fast-forward select programs of the channels anytime for a period of one month and in high-definition format (for select programs and internet speed). The service also offers a wide selection of fresh movies from the Philippines and other pay per view contents like concerts and sporting events also in high-definition format. As of January 1, 2020, TFC IPTV has been discontinued sales in Canada and the United States of America but will still provide service to existing users of the IPTV services.

Channels

* ANC Global * Cine Mo! Global * Cinema One Global *

* TeleRadyo * TFC HD

Video on demand

* iWantTFC Originals *

* KBO Unlimited *

MOR Entertainment MOR Entertainment is a national brand of new media radio station owned and operated by media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. As a broadcast radio network, MOR stations primarily played contemporary middle-of-the-road and original Pinoy m ...

* TFC PPV * Viva

Studio TFC

Balitang Amerika.jpg, Ging Reyes, substituting for Gel Santos-Relos in ''Balitang America''. Studio TFC.jpg, ''Adobo Nation'', an original program taping from Studio TFC. File:Myx tv.jpg, A show for

in Studio TFC.