CNN Philippines
CNN Philippines was a Philippine free-to-air television network owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network, under a license from Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. CNN Philippines was the fifth local franchise of CNN in Asia after CNN Indonesia, CNN Türk, CNN Arabic, and CNN-IBN. It was formed after a brand licensing agreement with CNN Worldwide and Nine Media in 2014. It then launched on March 16, 2015, replacing 9TV, and was available on various platforms, including cable, satellite, live-streaming, and RPN's television stations.
CNN Philippines' local programming was produced from the Worldwide Corporate Center in Mandaluyong. It maintained its analog transmitter located at the RPN Compound in Diliman, Quezon City, while digital transmission facilities were located at the Crestview Subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal.
Citing financial losses, CNN Philippines ceased its operations on January 31, 2024. Its terrestrial television channel space was replaced by RPTV, a channel co-owned by Nine Media Corporation and TV5 Network, while its remaining news operations and assets were absorbed by Nine Media's indirect parent Broadreach Media Holdings to form NewsWatch Plus.
Background
Solar TV (2009–2011)
Solar TV was launched on November 29, 2009, on RPN as part of a blocktime agreement with Solar Entertainment. It ended its broadcast on February 25, 2011, after Solar bought a stake of RPN; programming of ETC was then transferred to the network. Following its closure, Solar TV retains as a Solar's broadcast media arm.Talk TV (2011–2012)
Talk TV ran March 2, 2011 to October 29, 2012 on SBN Channel 21. It was formed by the Solar Television Network, then-owned by Solar Entertainment Corporation after the latter led the privatization of the state-sequestered Radio Philippines Network in 2011. The first programs that aired on the channel were Dateline NBC, The Today Show, Today's Talk, NBC Nightly News, Inside Edition, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Show with David Letterman.Solar News, known for its back-to-basics and unbiased journalism, was formed in January 2012 during the coverage of the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona. Post-EDSA revolution ABS-CBN newsmen Pal Marquez, Jing Magsaysay and Pia Hontiveros, together with former ANC anchors Claire Celdran, Mai Rodriguez and Nancy Irlanda, were known as the pillars of Solar News. A reporting team was composed of the former reporters of RPN NewsWatch, the sole and longest-running English newscast of Radio Philippines Network, which stopped airing in 2012 due to RPN's privatization.
The hourly news bulletin Solar News Update first aired in March 2012, followed by the primetime newscast Solar Network News and Solar Nightly News, which respectively started airing on June 18 and July 16 of the same year; Daybreak and Newsday started airing on October 1. On October 30, Talk TV finally signed off to make way for the launching of the first 24-hour English news channel on both cable TV and free-to-air TV: the Solar News Channel.
Solar News Channel (2012–2014)
Dubbed then as the "First 24/7 All-English News Channel on Free TV," Solar News Channel replaced Talk TV. SNC was launched on October 30, 2012 on SBN Channel 21.During its first months of operation, the channel produced local newscasts such as the native language newscast Solar News Cebuano, the sports newscast Solar Sports Desk, and public affairs programs Legal HD, Medtalk, News.PH, Opposing Views, Elections 2013, and News Cafe. 60 Minutes, Top Gear, Undercover Boss, and the Stories documentary block were also launched for SNC. SNC then launched its own mobile application for smartphone users with features such as live streaming, catch-up episodes and news from solarnews.ph.
In November 2013, San Miguel Corporation President and COO Ramon S. Ang personally acquired the minority stake of STVNI; at the time, brothers Wilson and William Tieng were the then-majority stockholders of STVNI. On December 1, 2013, SNC moved to RPN Channel 9 to improve signal and cate tor a wider audience after RPN's former occupant and Solar Entertainment-owned ETC returned to SBN Channel 21. Solar News Channel then began to phase out its Solar branding on its newscast as it leaned away from the Tiengs. It also launched the Kapampangan national newscast Kapampangan News along with the public service program Serbisyo All Access in the Filipino language. Solar News Channel closed down before midnight on August 22, 2014.
9TV (2014)
SNC was relaunched as 9TV on August 23, 2014. The Solar brand on Channel 9 was retired after the ALC Group of Companies, through Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, bought out the 34% stake of the Tiengs' group with Solar Television Network and RPN 9; the Tiengs had been losing money after they invested in RPN 9 and focused on the cable channels of Solar Entertainment Corporation. Solar News was then rebranded as 9News, with the programming and personnel retained. Kids Weekend, Home Shopping Network, TV Mass for the Homebound, along with local informative shows like Something to Chew On, Boys' Ride Out, Drive, Good Company, Two Stops Over and Bogart Case Files, became part of 9TV's programming line-up.Controversies hounded 9TV, as one of the motorpool drivers of the news division allegedly violated traffic rules when a news crew cab entered a no-left/no-entry road while on hazard in the Balara area on September 14, 2014. 9News management then imposed disciplinary actions and penalties against the driver and his designated reporter and cameraman.
Transition to CNN Philippines (2014–2015)
On October 14, 2014, Cabangon-Chua announced their partnership with the Turner Broadcasting System's Cable News Network. Under the brand licensing agreement between Turner Broadcasting System and Nine Media, the latter would pay CNN an undisclosed amount per month for programs and expertise from CNN International and CNN U.S. to air in CNN Philippines; this was in exchange for locally produced news, current affairs and lifestyle programs, and rolling news coverage from 9News, all based on the standards of CNN. 9News would also be trained by CNN staff at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia to enhance their reporting in order to help them contribute reports to CNN International and its news bureaus worldwide; consultants from the latter would additionally help Nine Media/RPN for further development and expansion of CNN Philippines. Finally, the official news website, 9news.ph would be redesigned and changed into CNNPhilippines.com.On the day of the soft launching of CNN Philippines held on October 14, 2014 at Solaire Resort & Casino, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker stated:
The following day, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma was the guest of honor at the trade launch of CNN Philippines at the Philippine International Convention Center. RPN, the broadcaster of CNN Philippines, was under the portfolio of PCOO, also known as Media Ng Bayan, from 1986 until 2011. However, PCOO still owned 20% minority share on RPN.
As a part of its transition to CNN Philippines, 9TV temporarily used a green screen as its news studio in December 2014. Along with newsroom renovations and strategic hiring of personnel, its newscasts began adopting the CNN-style on-air graphics starting on January 15, 2015 in time for 9TV's coverage of Pope Francis's visit to the country. Home Shopping Network and Kids Weekend block were axed in the same month; foreign non-CNN produced programs were also dropped in February, including NBC Nightly News.
History
Launch and first eight months
CNN Philippines was launched on March 16, 2015, with the tagline: "We Tell The Story Of The Filipino." At its inception, the network retained many of its predecessor's newscasts, current affairs, and lifestyle programs—some rebranded, others left unchanged—while gradually integrating CNN-produced content into its lineup. During its initial broadcast, the channel continued using the 4:3 standard definition format, although the 14:9 aspect ratio was tested overnight. Beginning in Holy Week of 2015, CNN Philippines transitioned to full-time broadcasts in the 16:9 widescreen format, aligning with other CNN channels worldwide. However, the output was presented in a 14:9 letterboxed format on both free-to-air and cable/satellite platforms. This made CNN Philippines the first free-to-air television channel in the country to adopt the 14:9 aspect ratio for widescreen presentation—a distinction it held until April 2017.Magsaysay out, Jarin-Bennett in
In September 2015, Nine Media Corporation President Reggie Galura and CNN Philippines Senior Vice President for News and Current Affairs Jing Magsaysay left the network after the "right-sizing" retrenchment of 70 junior staffers and contractual employees who worked in its Programming and Technical Engineering divisions. Additionally, Magsaysay left his sole newscast, CNN Philippines Newsroom, leaving Mai Rodriguez as the solo anchor.On November 2, 2015, CNN International's Armie Jarin-Bennett took over as the managing editor of CNN Philippines, replacing Magsaysay. Bennett had been the head of CNN Content Sales and Partnerships in Asia Pacific after 17 years of working as a writer and producer on various programs for CNN and CNN International; in particular, she had earned a 2012 Emmy Award for coverage of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and a nomination for Typhoon Haiyan coverage in 2013. Born and raised in Manila, Jarin-Bennett had begun her career as radio newscaster before moving as an intern in the CNN Center in 1996.